A Dream Reality : A Mortal Instruments FanFiction
by kmcgr125
Summary: Clary and Jonathan are shadowhunters, but the blood in their veins has insured that they've never had much to do with the clave. Until a chance meeting on the streets of New York with three gifted and deadly teenagers throws them into the shadowworld and right into the middle of a downworlder uprising. They've finally found a place for themselves but will they even survive?
1. Chapter 1

**One**

Clary had always had a knack for seeing through glamours, which was why she wasn't surprised when she spotted the three, prowling figures before her brother did. She held out a hand, stopping him in his tracks, "Jonathan look!"

He sighed, long since resigned to his sister's demands, "Where am I looking?"

"Directly across the street."

His green eyes narrowed in concentration, mentally peeling away the layers of magic to reveal what Clary had already seen; three black-clad teenagers stalking purposefully down the busy street, invisible to the mundanes around them.

"They're shadowhunters!" she exclaimed excitedly.

He rolled his eyes, "I can see that thank-you. What I don't see is why that matters to us."

She poked her tongue at him, "It matters because they're probably one their way to do something awesome, we should follow them."

He was already shaking his head, "No. No way."

"Come on, it's my birthday!"

"Turing sixteen doesn't automatically save you from mom's wrath."

"You worry too much. Please, can you just this once do something childish and stupid?" Clary made her eyes go as big and pleading as she could, he caved.

"If we don't hurry up we're going to loose them."

She clapped her hands in delight, "Yes!"

Jonathan sighed, "I know I'm going to regret this."

Clary shot him a devilish look over her shoulder, already moving after her newfound quarry. "Almost definitely."

Clary and Jonathan had been following the teenagers for the past ten minutes and so far they had done nothing of any real interest. They were over a hundred metres in front, any closer and they would have realised they were being followed. Even from this distance the only reason they hadn't spotted the duo tailing them was the overcrowded nature of the street and their faith in their glamours. Jonathan seemed to be thinking the same thing, "They're relying on their glamours too much, if they were paying attention they would have noticed us."

"They probably think they're the only shadowhunters in New York and who else is going to notice them when they're glamoured?" Clary reasoned.

"Any demon who bothers to look is going to notice and then they'll be in trouble."

"I don't know, it kind of seems like trouble is exactly what they're looking for." Clary went back to studying the figures ahead of them, there were two boys and one girl, all around the same age as her and Jonathan. The girl and one of the boys looked alike enough to be siblings, with their dark hair that contrasted perfectly against their pale skin. Even from behind Clary could tell they were gorgeous, both blessed with tall, lean bodies and graceful movements. But it was the second boy who caught and held Clary's attention.

He was like a Greek myth; a victim of Midas's golden touch, blonde hair and sun-kissed skin. And then he glanced behind him, his gaze travelling over the street and coming to rest on Clary. She did her best to emulate the expressions of the mundanes around her, as though she was looking through him as opposed to at him. He studied her and her heart quickened, it wasn't just his skin and hair that was gold, so were his eyes. Shadowhunters were made using the blood of an angel but this boy looked like one, too beautiful and remote to be human. He made her itch for her art supplies, this boy _needed_ to be drawn.

He turned back to confer with his companions and Clary let go the breath she hadn't realised she was holding. Jonathan grabbed her arm "Did he see you?"

"He saw me, but I don't think he realised I could see him too." Jonathan sighed in relief, he may not have been thrilled by the idea at first but he had committed to this game, being spotted meant you had lost and defeat was not a concept Jonathan was comfortable with.

"I wish I had Heosphoros." Clary grumbled. She'd had the sword since she was old enough to carry it without impaling herself and she hated going anywhere without it. Jonathan shot her a side-long smile, "I'm first to admit that mundies are notoriously unobservant, but even they will notice a small girl with a large sword walking down the street." Clary elbowed him in the side for his comment on her height but had to admit he had a point. Besides, it wasn't a though she was unarmed, she had a seraph blade concealed in her jacket and a runed dagger in its special sheath in her combat boots. She also had a few important runes, inked onto her skin and hidden from the mundanes by her clothes. Jonathan had some too but nowhere near as many as the trio they were following, because of their glamours they had no need to hide them, they swirled across their skin, blackened lines burned onto their bodies in numbers so great their skin was nearly entirely covered. Runes for speed, strength, agility and of course glamours, Clary had never seen so many runes on a person in her whole life. Where ever they were headed they were clearly planning for a fight, a big one.

As they walked the foot traffic got thinner as they headed into a more industrial area. Scary looking dilapidated warehouses rose up on all sides and Clary and Jonathan were forced to stay even further back to avoid being spotted. Then the trio came to a particularly intimidating looking warehouse and after a quick discussion slipped inside. Clary burned with curiosity and wanted nothing more than to follow but Jonathan held her back, "Mom is going to go utterly ballistic if we die on your birthday, we're supposed to be home by 5 O'clock if we're not there on time she'll probably send out a search party." It was true, Jocelyn Fairchild had an overprotective streak that made grizzly bears look tame.

"Come on Jonathan!" she knew she was whining but she couldn't help it, she desperately wanted to see where they were going, "It's not five yet and we've come all this way. Where's your sense of adventure?"

He raised one eyebrow and Clary seethed with jealousy, she been trying her entire life and she still couldn't pull off that expression. "I suspect it's in the same place as your sense of self-preservation." He quipped, but he let go of her arm and began moving toward the door that the others had slipped through so she knew she'd won the argument. He cracked it open and peeked inside, "Just don't do anything stupid." He said with the weary acceptance of a flight attendant giving safety directions they know on one is listening to. Then he led the way into the dark warehouse.

**So this is my second attempt at FanFiction, my first kind of crashed and burned, well not really, crashing and burning implies some epic failure. It more withered and died.**

**I've created a kind of parallel universe in this multi-chapter, a few changes in the very beginning of Clary and Jonathan's story which had big ripple effects in the lives all around them. The biggest difference? Valentine feed Jonathan Angel blood instead of demon. The rest will be revealed through-out the story. **

**PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! It would make me so happy! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Two**

Despite the daylight outside they were plunged into darkness as soon as the door closed behind them. Clary briefly considered pulling the witchlight out of her back pocket but quickly dismissed the idea, it was never wise to announce your presence without first knowing who you were announcing it to. So instead she pulled out her stele, set it against her arm and began tracing the night vision rune onto her skin. It moved, like it always had, as though it was an extension of her body with no conscious though necessary to draw the runes that she needed. The pain that drawing runes caused was accompanied as always, by the burning smell that never truly left a shadowhunter's skin, but Clary didn't mind, fresh runes were familiar and comforting, like a piece of home. As soon as the rune was finished her vision sharpened, the room didn't get any brighter but suddenly she could see clearly, she reached out silently and took Jonathan's arm, setting her stele on his skin she drew the rune onto him as well. Jonathan rubbed the spot on his arm where the new rune had been burned, he didn't mind runes, but he'd never taken the same, almost masochistic pleasure in them either.

Now that her eyes were properly adjusted Clary could fully appreciate the vastness of the warehouse, even with the night vision rune the end was still swallowed in darkness and between there and where they were standing was a maze of conveyer belts, scaffolding and abandoned and broken machinery. Basically it was a hodgepodge of places for demonic beings to lie in wait for unsuspecting shadowhunters. She had to ask, "Do you think it's a trap?" Jonathan surveyed the space, "I don't think so, traps are supposed to catch people unawares, this place all but screams 'people go missing here'."

"It could be a really badly thought-out trap."

He inclined his head, "Possible, but it's more likely that it's a nest."

Clary screwed her nose up in disgust, demon nests were awful. Plenty of demons hunted in pairs or trios but a nest was five to twenty living together, it only ever occurred when there was a food-source that made it worthwhile. They were always dark and damp and stunk of demons and on the rare occasion that she and Jonathan had discovered one Clary couldn't help but wonder how many mundane's lives made coexistence worthwhile.

Jonathan caught the look on her face and gave her a wry smile, "You wanna keep going?"

Clary quickly readjusted her expression to one of practised indifference, a shadowhunter trademark, and nodded.

"Alright then, you go that way," he pointed directly ahead, "I'll cover you from the elevated catwalk." He pointed in the general direction of the ceiling. Clary mentally kicked herself, so much for shadowhunter skills; she could pull off a shadowhunter facial expression but couldn't even scope-out a room properly. Jonathan grinned sidelong at her, "You should really learn to look properly Clarissa." He only ever called her Clarissa when he was angry or mocking her, 'Clary' was the hasty result of toddler Jonathan's tantrum over not being able to pronounce his little sister's name and it was what she'd been called ever since. The only other person who called her Clarissa was her mother, and even then, only when she was in a great deal of trouble. She poked her tongue at him and began marching in the direction he had indicated, she heard a derisive chuckle and then the unmistakeable groaning of rusted metal as he began to climb the ladder to the catwalk.

Clary crept through the darkness, wincing every time she accidently kicked one of the numerous metal pipes lying over the floor. Even a lifetime of shadowhunter training couldn't completely erase her clumsy streak and it always seemed to show itself at the most inconvenient of times, like when she was trying to be stealthy. She walked carefully around yet another suspended chassis, she'd walked under one a few minutes ago and had had terrible visions of the chain rusting through and the whole thing landing on her head, since then she'd avoided them. She was beginning to wonder if they would ever find anything when she heard a demon scream up ahead and saw the bright flash of a witchlight flaring up. Clary ran, pausing only long enough to draw her seraph blade out and name it.

"Raphael." She shouted, watching as the blade sparked to life, above her she heard Jonathan doing the same thing, followed by the sound of feet on metal as he sprinted off again. Clary hurled her body forward, racing towards the bright light and the sounds of fighting. The cold calm of battle descended on her and she smiled as she finally reached the conflict site. There were at least twenty ravener demons crammed together in a kind of sunken pit in the floor and as Clary had predicted it _stunk_.

She took a moment to survey the scene around her, the demons had clearly been surprised and despite their few numbers the shadowhunters were defiantly holding their own. The boy with dark hair was standing calmly on the edge of the pit with a bow and arrows, disrupting all attempts made by the demons to organise themselves and generally causing mass panic. He shot to wound, leaving the injured creatures to be dispatched by the other two, who were standing in the pit, unflinchingly surrounded by grotesque many eyed monsters, killing anything that got within range of their weapons. The girl was holding two electrum whips, lashing with vicious skill at the demons around her. The golden boy was even better, he held a blazing seraph blade in each hand and moved so fast he seemed to blur.

_I only know of one other person who can move like that._

Even as the thought entered her head she saw a blur of movement, a graceful body falling through the air. Jonathan had launched himself from the catwalk at a height that would have broken the legs of any normal person, even a shadowhunter, but he landed effortlessly and, without faltering for an instant, through himself into the battle.

_He's such a show-off. _Clary thought as she ran forward, summersaulting neatly into the pit after him. A ravener turned towards her and she buried her seraph blade up to the hilt in its domed skull, right above the black cluster of eyes. She pulled the blade back out and took a hurried step back in an attempt to avoid the worst of the ichor splattering as the demon exploded in a shower of gore, the way they always did. She still caught a few droplets though, the acid-like blood burning into her cheeks and the backs of her hands, she knew when the fight was over it would hurt, but for now she could barely feel it.

While her attention was being held by the first creature a second had snuck up behind her. She turned to face it, bringing her blade up once again, but before she could take so much as a step towards it an arrow appeared in its eye socket, effectively dealing with the problem. Clary spun around, looking for the source, and locked eyes with the boy still providing cover fire. His eyes were a beautiful, icy blue and he was regarding her with no small amount of confusion, no doubt wondering who the hell she was. Clary gave him a wide smile and he nodded to her in bemusement before returning his attention back to the fight. Clary waded through the mass of demons, stabbing one scaly, reptilian monster after another. Then she heard the girl cry out for help, "Alec!" most likely the name of one of the boys with her. Clary turned towards the sound, a ravener had used its barbed tail to knock her off her feet was now advancing on the prone figure. Clary raced forward and plunged her blade into its back, it screamed in pain, turning to face its new attacker and wrenching the seraph blade from her grasp. She reached for her dagger but never made it that far, one of the girl's whips made a deadly arc through the air, slicing the ravener's head clean off. It disintegrated, showering both her and the other girl in burning ichor. Clary leaned down reaching out a hand to help her to her feet, the girl had been staring at Clary in shock but quickly snapped her mouth shut and grasped her hand, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. At full height she towered over Clary, not that that was hard, _everyone_ towered over Clary. "Hi." The girl said. "Umm… Hi?" Clary replied, already turning to check on her brother.

Jonathan was standing in the midst of several puddles of ichor, grinning like a manic, he met Clary's eyes and she couldn't help but grin back, her eyes already moving past him once she verified his safety, in search of someone else.

The golden boy was fighting the two remaining demons, Clary stepped forward, removing her dagger from its sheath and drawing her arm back in a practiced gesture and then throwing it forward. It sailed through the air and imbedded itself in the first ravener's heart, the boy didn't skip a beat, turning and plunging his blade into the other beast then stepping back neatly to avoid the twin showers of ichor. The fight was over, it had only taken a few minutes.

"Who-" he spun around but the question died in his throat as he noticed the newcomers for the first time. His eyes locked with Clary and shock and recognition chased themselves across his face. Jonathan stepped forward and the boy's eyes flickered to him instead. "I'm Jonathan and this is my little sister Clary."

The beautiful girl stepped toward him, clearly taking it upon herself to do the introductions for her group, "I'm Isabelle Lightwood and these are my brothers, Alec and Jace." The golden boy, the one called Jace locked eyes with Clary again as he was introduced and he smirked before returning his attention to Jonathan. Alec had jumped into the pit with them and after applying an _iratze_ rune to Jace was offering one to Jonathan, Jace, for his part had assumed an air of disinterest.

Isabelle stepped closer to Clary and she turned towards her, expecting thanks for saving the other girls life, instead, Isabelle kept her eyes on Jonathan, a small flirtatious smile curling her lips, "Is your brother single?" Clary rolled her eyes, some things never changed.

**What does everyone think? Is this Story worth continuing? Please review and tell me!**

**P.S. forgot to add this on the first chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own this series. The Mortal Instruments series and all characters and events relating to it belong to Cassandra Clare. **

**XD **


	3. Chapter 3

**Three**

Alec cleared his throat, breaking the awkward silence that had befallen the group, "I hate to be the one to address the elephant in the room but what are you guys doing here?" Clary blushed and looked down at her feet, "We… followed you."

Jace's eyes widened, "That's why you look familiar, I saw you this morning." His eyes raked over Clary, making her blush even harder, "I thought you were a mundane, you sure look like a mundane." She shot him a hard look, "That's the point."

He raised an eyebrow, _seriously why can everyone do that but me! _"Why is that the point? Do you live in New York?"

"Yes."

"Then why is this the first time we've ever seen you? Who the hell are you people?"

"We're…" she trailed off, it was the first time Clary had ever met a shadowhunter who didn't know who she was, she didn't want them to know, didn't want to have to see the hate in their eyes. Jonathan saw what was going on in her head and changed the subject quickly, "I'm going to scout around and make sure there aren't any more demons hiding anywhere." Isabelle, still eyeing him in appreciation piped up, "I'll go with you!"

Jonathan grinned at her and Clary resisted the urge to groan, if those two were '_scouting_' together the only thing they'd find were each other's lips. Apparently Alec was having the same thoughts because after glancing suspiciously at Jonathan he said, "I'll come too." Isabelle pouted but Jonathan just shrugged and the three of them set off into the darkness, Alec holding his witchlight out in front of him and Isabelle and Jonathan walking way closer to each other than necessary.

Using the illumination cast by the witchlight Jace was still holding Clary began searching the ground. "What are you doing?" Jace asked sounding bored.

"I'm looking for my dagger."

"Do you have a particular attachment to it?"

"No, I try not to get attached to daggers, I'm always throwing them and sometimes they end up somewhere you don't want to get them back from, like something's stomach, but I try and keep track of them when I can." Jace was regarding her evenly and other than a small smile when she mentioned stabbing things in the stomach he gave no indication of what he was thinking.

"It's over there." He pointed to a spot a few metres away from her. She strode over and picked it up, wiping the ichor on her pants and stowing it in its boot sheath.

"So you've been in a few fights?" he asked, a not-so-subtle attempt to uncover more information about her. Clary cast around for a topic of conversation that didn't involve her past, "So… you don't look much like Isabelle and Alec." A second after the words left her mouth she realised it might be a touchy subject but he just huffed in exasperation, "Observant little thing aren't you?" Clary bristled, the guy might look like an angel but she was beginning to realise he was a bit of an arse. "Well?"

"Well what?" he asked a smirk curling his lips.

"Are you going to answer the question?"

"Technically you didn't ask a question."

By this point Clary was regretting putting away her dagger; she could have thrown it at Jace. "Fine. Are you going to answer the _implied_ question?"

He laughed, "So persistent! I was adopted, my parents died before I was born."

Something about the way he said it struck Clary as odd, '_before_ I was born'. She realised she knew this guy or his story anyway. She took a step towards him, "Stephan Herondale died and his wife committed suicide their son-"

"Was cut out of her cold, dead body." He finished bitterly.

Clary took another step towards him, "You're Jace Herondale." He flinched and glared at her, his eyes burning with anger, "Don't call me that! My father was a cowardly murderer I don't want his name."

_That sounds familiar._

"Not wanting a name doesn't stop it from being yours, you are a Herondale wether you hate your father or not and at some point you're going to have to step up and claim it or it's going to own you instead of the other way around."

Jace's hands clenched and unclenched around his seraph blade but when he spoke his voice still held that carefully cultivated indifference that Clary was already beginning to see through. "You sound as though you speak from experience, are you going to tell me who you are now?"

She shouldn't have said anything, should have let him wallow in his self-pity, let him think his father's legacy was bad, he had no idea. And she shouldn't answer his question now, but even as she had the thought her mouth was already forming the words that would make this beautiful boy hate her forever. "My mother's name is Jocelyn Garroway now; but she's been married before. My full name is Clarissa Adele Morgenstern, you may have heard of my father?" Jace's reaction was not at all unexpected but it still hurt somewhere deep inside, shock and suspicion warred across his features and suspicion won. He stepped back, raising his seraph blade to point at her face. However, Clary had had a lifetime of dealing with this kind of behaviour so instead of bursting into tears which is what she wanted to do, she pretended his reaction didn't touch her. In fact as she had during so many other encounters she pretended she found his reaction amusing, there was nothing that irritated a shadowhunter more than someone who wasn't afraid of him.

She shot Jace a devilish grin and reached into her boot, "What are you doing?" He sounded incredulous, as though he couldn't believe that she would be stupid enough to attack him. She ignored him and pulled her dagger out, handing it hilt-first to Jace, "You can't have armed prisoners now can you?" Jace's lips quirked like he was trying not to laugh at her and his blade wavered. She stepped back so that she was standing just outside the witchlight and Jace began questioning her.

"So your brother is-"

"Yes," Clary said impatiently, "My brother is also my father's son. Well spotted Jace." He glared at her and she laughed, what did he expect with a question that stupid?

He opened his mouth to ask a new one, hopefully more intelligent than the last, but he never got the chance.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

Jonathan had returned, and he was staring at Jace with undisguised fury.

Jace was explaining the situation to Alec and Isabelle, a task made harder buy the fact that Jonathan was yelling at him for pointing a weapon at his unarmed sister, but Clary was barely listening to any of them. She heard at noise behind her and began to turn towards the sound, which probably saved her life. A ravener's barbed tail, meant for her heart, transfixed her upper arm instead, it wasn't an instantly fatal wound but her arm still exploded in agony so intense and unexpected that she couldn't even scream. She gave a strangled moan as the tail withdrew, arching back for another attack, but then Jace was there, standing in front of her with seraph blades blazing. At first Clary thought he was glowing but the she realised her eyesight was simply blurring, already affected by the demon poison that was pulsing through her veins. She didn't see him kill the demon, she was far too distracted by the sickening way the world was tilting all of a sudden, but he must've done it quickly because when her knees began to buckle a few seconds later he caught her and lowered her gently to the ground. He lent over her and Clary realised it was the first time since she'd seen him that he actually looked concerned about something, the thought made her laugh. She raised her arm and was momentarily alarmed by how heavy it felt all of a sudden, but the thought drifted away as quickly as it had come and she pressed her fingers to the lines at his brow, attempting to smooth them out. She giggled again, "You look worried."

His expression softened slightly, "You look delirious." His words were muffled as he spoke against her fingers which had moved to his lips and were trying to force him into a smile. Then another form appeared above her, catching and holding her hand, she took a moment to identify him as her vision grew steadily worse, "Jon," she breathed, smiling up at him.

"Yes Clary?"

"Your scouting could use some work."

He snorted sarcastically "Funny, aren't you?" She turned back to Jace, as her vision darkened he became the easiest thing to see, he was so _bright._ "Jace?"

"Mmhmm?"

"I can't feel my arm anymore." He looked down at his hand were it was clamped around her arm to stop the bleeding, Jonathan reached out, stroking her face, "Shh you're fine."

"No she's not," Clary hadn't seen Alec approach and she heard his voice as if she was underwater, "The _iratze_ keep fading." Jonathan swore and Jace said, "She's so tiny the poison's probably working twice as fast on her. We need to take her to the Institute, Hodge can help." He moved to pull her into his arms but Jonathan pushed him back, "I'll take her." He lifted her as though she weighed nothing, "Jonathan," she'd meant to sound reproachful but her voice was too soft, "don't be mean."

From somewhere behind her she heard Jace laugh, and then the world faded to black.

**DA DA-DA DA!**

**Clary was kind of boring me so I decided to kill her off.**

**Kidding!**

**Will definitely update soon though. And I just want to say a huge thank-you to everyone has followed or reviewed this story! You have no idea how ridiculously happy it makes me that people are enjoying my writing! I love you guys!**

**XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own this series. The Mortal Instruments series and all characters and events relating to it belong to Cassandra Clare.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Four**

The first thing Clary saw when she opened her eyes were cherubs, honest to goodness chubby, baby angels, surrounded by golden ribbon and fluffy clouds. She groaned, "Please don't tell me heaven is really this clichéd."

A male voice next to her chuckled, "Only you would mock heaven within hours of escaping it." She turned her head to the side and saw Jonathan sitting in a chair next to her bed. "I escaped it years ago big brother, everyone knows when I die I'm going straight down." He laughed again and she took a moment to examine her surroundings, she was clearly in some kind of a medical room, her linen-sheeted bed was one of a long row of identical ones, all complete with metal headboards and generic nightstands, lace curtains blocked the light from the windows but not the ever present sound of New York traffic, she went back to examining the ceiling, "Honestly I think it's just tempting fate to paint heaven on the roof of a sickroom. Where are we anyway?"

Jonathan couldn't keep the excitement off his face as he replied, "We're in the New York Institute!"

"That is so awesome! How long have I been out?"

His face instantly grew serious, "A few hours, they had to give you all sorts of potions before you were strong enough for the runes to work." He heaved a great shuddering sigh and grabbed her hand, squeezing so hard her bones grinded together, "I thought you were going to die Clary, I would never forgive myself if something happened to you." She extracted her hand with a wince and moved it instead to cup his chin, "But I didn't die okay? I'm fine and I'm not your responsibility."

He brushed her hand away, "Of course you are, you're my little sister."

"That doesn't mean you always have to be there, fixing everything when I make a mistake and blaming yourself if you can't."

He raised an eyebrow, "Do you want me to stop looking out for you Clarissa?"

"Of course not!" She scoffed, "I'd be dead in a week without you to talk me out of my crazier ideas, but I just wish you'd let yourself off the hook a bit more."

He laughed, "Remember when you wanted to climb the Statue of Liberty?" She laughed too, "I still haven't entirely abandoned that idea."

"Of course you haven't, may the angel be with anyone who tries to tell Clary Morgenstern what she can and can't do."

Clary laughed again and then made to sit up but stopped, "Where are my clothes?"

Jonathan frowned, "They were covered in ichor and blood, I think Jace burned them."

She felt her cheeks getting hot, "He didn't… you know-" she gestured to herself and Jonathan's expression darkened, "Take them off? By the angel no, I would have snapped him in half. Izzy did it."

"Already on nickname basis huh Jon?" she teased lightly, mostly to distract herself from the fact that the breathtakingly beautiful Isabelle Lightwood had seen her naked, her self-esteem just took a nosedive off a cliff.

"Yeah," he grinned, "she's mega hot!"

Clary rolled her eyes, "You're not shallow at all."

"Hey!" He protested, "I just call it how I see it, anyway, I figured you wouldn't want to wear her clothes so I went back to the house and got you a bag of your own."

He plopped it down on her knees but she wasn't paying attention to it, "You've been home?" she exclaimed, "but that means-". He nodded, "Mom and Luke know."

"Was it really bad?"

He looked sheepishly down at his feet, "I have no idea, I didn't have the guts to face her, I climbed in through your bedroom window, grabbed your stuff, left and then sent her a text."

She snorted, "Chicken!"

Jonathan glared at her, "It's alright for you! Just wait, this'll be my fault, I guarantee it."

"Whatever, I'm going to go and get changed."

She picked up the bag, wrapped a sheet securely around herself and walked to the bathroom.

After a long hot shower and back in skinny jeans and a black tank top Clary felt more herself than she had since she woke up, she examined her reflection in the mirror, she looked pale and her lips were dry and cracking. Her tank top showed off all the scars on her arms from runes, plus a new one on her upper arm from the ravener attack. It was an angry red colour but Clary new it would fade to white in a couple of days, all in all she looked quite good for someone who'd nearly died.

When she left the bathroom Jonathan stood up, handing her a bundle of possessions that had survived incineration, her keys, phone, wallet, combat boots, her dagger and her stele.

She huffed, "What am I supposed to do with these? I assume he burned my jacket too?" Jonathan nodded.

"Dammit! That was my favourite!"

She pulled the combat boots on and slipped the dagger into its sheath, the keys, phone and wallet went into the pockets of her jeans and after a moment of deliberation she decided just to carry her stele.

"All right, I'm ready shall we-"

Her question was cut off by the sound off the infirmary doors opening she looked up, Jace was standing framed in the doorway.

He looked her up and down, "Oh good you're alive!" For a moment she was pleased that he was glad she was okay but the next words out of his mouth quashed that feeling, "Izzy owes me ten dollars!"

Clary spluttered, "You put bets on that? You have got to be kidding me!"

He gave her a sly grin, "If it makes you feel any better I betted on you living."

"Oh, well that's all right then." She said, every word dripping with sarcasm.

"I thought it would be, anyway I only came to tell you your family is here."

Jonathan swore and Jace raised an eyebrow, Clary shrugged, "I doesn't matter that I survived the night, mom's going to kill us both anyway."

His lips twitched, "Well they're already rather hysterical so you might want to hurry this up."

Her shoulders slumped and she stepped towards Jace in the doorway but Jonathan called out to her. She turned back towards him, "Considering your near death experience maybe you should go eat something, I'll try to head mom off."

She gave him a hug, "Thank you, you're awesome!"

He smiled, "I know I am. Wish me luck."

Clary laughed, "You're facing the wrath of Jocelyn Garroway, you don't need luck you need a miracle."

He lifted his eyes to Jace, "Can you…?"

Jace nodded, "I'll get her some food." Jonathan nodded his head in thanks and then slipped passed him into the hall, after a moment Jace turned as well, heading in the opposite direction and clearly expecting Clary to follow.

She ran after him, his legs were so long his strides were worth two of hers, when she finally caught up to him she cast around for something to say.

"So…" she hedged, "So…" he copied, mocking her.

"You've met my family than."

He nodded, "You're stepfather is a werewolf."

"Yes he is." she said coldly.

"But that's illegal!" he sounded surprised.

"Don't be so naïve, Jace, not everyone is terrified of the clave."

He glared at her, clearly not appreciating the 'naïve' thing, "Shadowhunters can't marry downworlders!"

"My mother isn't a shadowhunter, not really. When she left Idris after valentine died she wanted nothing more to do with shadowhunters except she had two shadowhunter children, she wanted us to be able to protect ourselves so she trained us, but she hasn't fought a demon or worn a rune since before I was born." A few years ago she'd broken her arm and despite hers and Jonathan's pleadings had completely refused a healing rune, instead she healed like a mundane, her arm was in a cast for weeks.

"She hasn't been officially dismissed by the clave!"

"What does it matter? It's not as if they'd want valentine's wife, or his children for that matter." She couldn't keep the bitterness out of her voice. Jace stared at her for a moment than pushed open the door Clary hadn't even realised they had stopped in front of, "This is the kitchen."

Isabelle Lightwood was standing at the stove, stirring a pot and surrounded by an assortment of ingredients which Clary couldn't imagine could possibly taste any good together.

She looked up from the concoction and smiled, "Hi Jace, Hello Clary, good see you're not dead." Jace walked passed her to the fridge and Isabelle handed him a ten dollar note, he caught Clary watching and winked at her, she wanted to hit him so badly.

Isabelle turned back to her and lifted a ladle of the strange smelling mixture toward her, "Want any soup?"

Over Isabelle's shoulder Jace caught Clary's eye and shook his head vigorously, "Umm… No thank you." She replied, Isabelle shrugged and went back to stirring. Jace grabbed an apple out of the fridge and threw it to Clary and then grabbed one for himself.

"What about you Jace, do you want any soup?"

Jace shuddered and then replied hurriedly, "No thanks Izzy I'm not really hungry." And without further ado he grasped Clary's arm and dragged her out of the room.

As soon as the door closed behind them she turned to him, "Is Isabelle's soup really that bad?"

He grinned ruefully at her, "Her mom Maryse is and amazing cook, but she never taught Izzy, sometimes I think we don't even need seraph blades to kill demons we could just feed them all Izzy's cooking."

Clary laughed and after a moment he joined in, then he grabbed her arm again, "Come on–I'll show you around."

Clary saw the armoury and the training arena plus lots of empty rooms, Jace was amused by her enthusiasm in everything she saw, and amazed when she told him she'd never been inside an institute before, "Never? Why not?"

She rolled her eyes, "You know who I am Jace, would I really be welcome? Anyway," she said curiously, already moving on from talk of her parentage, "How many people live here?

He studied her for a moment then sighed, "The institute can hold a lot of people but it's usually just me, Alec, Isabelle, Hodge, Maryse, Robert and Max. But Max, Robert and Maryse are on a business trip right now."

"That sounds kind of lonely."

He shrugged, "could be worse."

They arrived outside a door Jace told her was the library, and she could tell it was their destination because she could hear an awful lot of shouting inside. She sighed, "Back to reality I guess."

Jace wasn't looking at her so she wasn't entirely sure she heard him right when he said, "You could always stay." Her eyes widened, "What?"

He shrugged, "You could always stay here." He repeated with the air of explaining something simple to someone incredibly stupid, but he still didn't meet her gaze so she had no idea how he felt about the proposal. Before she could think too much of it however, he had pushed the door open and stepped inside, dragging her with him. The arguing cut off immediately as all eyes in the room turned to them, the silence stretched for a moment, laden with tension, and then one particularly loud, particularly angry voice broke it, "CLARISSA ADELE MORGENSTERN, YOU ARE IN MORE TROUBLE THAN YOU HAVE EVER BEEN IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE!"

**As all ways, thank you for reading! This chapter isn't my best work but it will get better I promise! And I'm sorry it took so long, I had and exam block at school and I just didn't have time, but school's finished for me now so hopefully I will be able to update more! Love you guys! **

**XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own this series. The Mortal Instruments series and all characters and events relating to it belong to Cassandra Clare.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Five**

"_CLARISSA ADELE MORGENSTERN, YOU ARE IN MORE TROUBLE THAN YOU HAVE EVER BEEN IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE!"_

The library was the most beautiful room Clary had ever seen, but she didn't have time to take it in because standing in the centre with her hands on her hips and wearing a glare that could send warriors running, was her mother. Jocelyn looked beautiful, as always, people were constantly telling Clary how much she looked like her but Clary had never been able to see it. They both had slender frames but Jocelyn's hair was a few shades darker red, she even had a graceful, self-assured way of walking that Clary had always been too self-conscious to pull off. Next to her, with hair more orange than red, a liberal smattering of freckles and ridiculously small stature, she felt like a Raggedy Ann being compared to a Barbie doll. Jace let go of her arm and settled himself in a chair, Clary really wished he would leave but it appeared as though he was settling himself in to watch her family dysfunction.

Numbly, she realised she was still standing in the doorway, and still being yelled at. She shifted until she was leaning against a bookshelf next to Jonathan, he shot her a tight smile and whispered, "Thank god you're here, she'd nearly run out of creative ways to call me irresponsible."

Clary couldn't help it, she laughed.

"OH YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY DO YOU?" Clary was almost surprised to see there wasn't steam coming out of her mother's ears, she certainly looked angry enough.

"Of course not mom but-"

She was cut off before she could even finish half a sentence, "GAVE LUKE AND I A HEART ATTACK, YOU'D BEEN MISSING FOR HOURS AND THEN WE FINALLY GET A TEXT FROM YOUR BROTHER, AT THREE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING NO LESS, TELLING US THAT YOU'RE DYING IN AN INSTITUTE!"

"I distinctly remember saying that she was fine, get your facts straight woman." Muttered Jonathan beside her, but he was careful to pitch his voice low enough to be out of earshot of their angry mother.

"AND YOU JONATHAN, WHY WERE YOU LETTING HER FIGHT DEMONS IN THE FIRST PLACE?" Jonathan shot Clary a look that clearly said, _'See? I told you I'd be blamed for this.'_ But Clary was to indignant to care, "I AM PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF FIGHTING DEMONS! I'M SIXTEEN YEARS OLD AND I CAN HANDLE MYSELF! I DON'T _NEED_ JONATHAN!"

"Besides," Jonathan chose that moment to pipe up, "have_ you_ ever tried to dissuade Clary from something she wants to do? I'd have more luck convincing demons to become pacifists."

Jocelyn chose to ignore this comment and instead went back to attacking Clary, "EXACTLY! SIXTEEN CLARISSA! YOU DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING; I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD ENDANGER YOUR LIFE LIKE THAT AND OVER WHAT? BECAUSE YOU WERE _BORED_?"

Clary was now yelling in earnest, "I'M A SHADOWHUNTER MOTHER! WE ALL RISK OUR LIVES! IT'S OUR JOB! YOU HAVE TO STOP BEING SO OVERPROTECTIVE!"

"YOU JUST WAIT TILL YOU HAVE KIDS CLARISSA! AND THEN THEY GO AROUND DISOBEYING YOU AND PUTTING THEMSELVES IN MORTAL PERIL!"

"THEN WHY DO YOU BOTHER WITH US IF WE'RE SO DAMNED AWEFUL?"

Clary was horrified to see her mother's eyes well with tears, "Because I love you both so much! I was so worried!"

"I'm sorry mom, don't cry, please don't cry." She covered the distance in a heartbeat and wrapped her mother in her arms, ignoring as she went, Jonathan's cough, which sounded suspiciously like "PMS."

Now that she was no longer locked in a battle of wills Clary allowed her attention to wander and take in more of the room, they were standing directly in front of a magnificent desk, the weathered oak had been carved into a huge slab and was resting, rather disturbingly, on the backs of two oak angels, their faces twisted into masks of suffering. There was also a series of glass fragments and semi-precious jewels inlayed in the polished wood floor, they seemed to form some sort of picture. _Probably the angel Raziel_, Clary thought wryly_, if the tapestries, statuary and paintings through-out the rest of the Institute were anything to go by, shadowhunters are nothing if not predictable. _It was then that she realised with a start that there were more people in the room then she had first thought. Jace, whom Clary had nearly forgotten about, was still sitting in the armchair by the unlit fire, watching their exchange like a strange, verbal tennis match; and over in the corner of the room was Luke. Her step-father was deep in conversation with a man Clary had never seen before but she supposed he must be Hodge, he looked a bit like a college professor, with his neat, tweed suit and grey hair, but the image was ruined somewhat, by the thick scar that marred the right side of his face. Then the lump in Luke's arms, which until then had looked like a coat or blanket, shifted and Clary realised that he was holding her baby sister, who had somehow slept through the entire screaming match.

The sound of Jocelyn's voice snapped Clary out of her reverie, "All your stuff is packed in the car, we need to leave soon or we're going to be late." Clary stiffened in her mother's embrace and pulled back so that she could talk face to face, "Late for what?"

Her mother rolled her eyes, "Silly Clary, have you forgotten what day it is already? We're going to stay at the farm remember? Your grandparents and aunt Amatis are portaling out for your birthday, we need to be there to meet them and we have a long drive ahead of us."

Clary resisted the urge to pull a face, in keeping with her mother's I-am-no-longer-a-shadowhunter stance she resolutely refused to portal anywhere, instead forcing them all into long car trips with a screaming baby. But then Jace's words came back to her, _'You could always stay here', _she squared her shoulders, it was now or never.

"Well, do you think maybe… it would be okay if we… you know…"

"Just spit it out Clary!" her mother snapped, half amused, half impatient.

She took a deep breathe, "Can we stay in the Institute? Just for a little while?"

Jocelyn's eyes narrowed, "Absolutely not!"

"But mom, I've never seen an Institute before and it's totally amazing and I just want a bit longer and it's my _birthday_!"

"It was your birthday yesterday, and I can't cancel on my parents and Amatis now!"

"So don't! Jon and I will stay, you, Luke and Ella can go and spend the week with them, they won't even notice we're not there they'll be too busy gushing over Ella!" She gestured to her sister, still sleeping in Luke's arms.

"Have you actually discussed this with anyone Clarissa? You can't just force yourself on these people!" She opened her mouth to reply, but no sound came out, she _had_ discussed it with someone, but somehow she didn't think her mother would find Jace's opinion valid. But she needn't have worried because Hodge spoke up, "It's really no trouble at all, it's not as if we don't have the room." Fast running out of allies Jocelyn scanned the room, her eyes coming to rest on her husband, "Luke?"

He sighed, "I think you should let them hon, Clary's right, they're not little kids anymore and they'll be quite safe at the Institute. Plus, this place is a part of who they are, you have to let them experience it."

Clary beamed at him, it wasn't often he went against their mother and his opinion tended to count for a lot as the voice of reason in a house full of irrational red-heads and teenagers. Her mother sighed in defeat, "Fine, you can stay." Clary restrained herself from jumping for joy, Jocelyn held up a finger, "I have a few conditions, I'll call you every night and you'd better answer!"

"Done."

"Don't go anywhere alone."

"Of course not."

"Don't go to any parties."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"Don't leave the Institute without Jonathan."

She sighed, "Fine."

Jocelyn pulled her into a bone-crushing hug, "Be good! We'll celebrate your birthday properly when we get back.", then moved on to hug Jonathan. Luke stepped up to Clary and wrapped his free arm around her, "See you 'round kiddo." She hugged him back, "See you Luke." She kissed the top of Ella's head, "Bye, bye cutie, see you soon."

Jonathan gently extracted himself from their rather teary mother and reminded her gently, "You're late mom."

"Oh of course, time to go." She dashed her eyes impatiently, and smiled weakly, "I'll talk to you tonight." Then she left, Luke propelling her out the door by her arm.

Clary turned to share their victory with her brother, but he was already talking to Hodge, there was however, another person looking at her. Jace smirked, "Congratulations on your new found freedom, though your persuasive skills leave much to be desired."

She glared at him, "Don't pretend you didn't enjoy it, I saw you watching like we were some sort of demented sitcom."

He frowned, "What's a sitcom?"

She shook her head, "Never mind."

He broke into a lazy grin, "I've never seen shadowhunters yell at their parents before."

She shot him a quizzical look, "Really?"

He nodded, "Yep, we're usually bought up with more respect and manners than that."

Clary snorted at the idea of Jace having manners. He pointed a finger ominously at her, "You may laugh, but I can be very charming when I want to be."

"Apparently the mood doesn't take your fancy often."

A slow smile spread across his face, "Exactly! Why sweep people off their feet when you can make mortal enemies instead!"

"Why indeed."

They grinned at each other for a few seconds longer and then Jace frowned slightly and said, "I'll go tell Izzy and Alec we have guests." He left the room without so much as a backward glance.

Clary felt a presence next to her and turned, Jonathan was standing there but instead of looking pleased like she'd expected he looked slightly weary, "Hodge knows about the angels blood, he wants to talk to me about it."

Clary felt the slight stirrings of panic, "How does he know?"

"I have no idea but I can guess." Her brother muttered darkly she opened her mouth to reply but saw that Jace was back and walking towards them so she hastily changed the subject, "Anyway, when you were getting me a change of clothes did you manage to grab my sword?"

He raised one eyebrow, "I couldn't find it, your room is disgusting Clary."

She glared at him and muttered, somewhat defensively, "It's under my pillow."

"Yeah? Well there's so much crap piled everywhere I was lucky to find your bed let alone anything hidden in it."

"But I need it Jonathan! I have to go get it."

He shook his head, "I'm busy right now and there's no way you're going on your own so you'll just have to wait."

She opened her mouth to protest but a smooth voice cut her off, "I'll take her if you like." She turned back to Jace, taking in his relaxed stance and devilish smile and made what was probably a stupid call, "Sounds like a great idea."

**Okay, so not a lot happens in this chapter but there are more interesting scenes to come, so patience my young grasshoppers! That's all I really have to say a part from, thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, favourited, followed or even just read my story! Every time a new notification pops up my entire family knows about it 'cause I run around the house squealing like a little girl, rather undignified for a nearly-seventeen-year-old but there you have it. Also I feel kind of weird about the fact that for you guys my name is kmcgr125, I feel like a car licence plate, so throwing stranger danger out the window, my name is Kelsey, for anyone wondering. If you have any questions or requests regarding my story please don't hesitate to ask. And wow this note ran on longer than intended. Love you guys!**

**XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own this series. The Mortal Instruments series and all characters and events relating to it belong to Cassandra Clare.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Six**

Jonathan narrowed his eyes, "He can't take you, mom specifically said you weren't to leave the Institute without me."

Clary shrugged, "Since when have either of us done what mom says, besides, you're both tall, blonde and hansom, practically the same person."

This earned her matching glares from Jace and Jon, "See? You're even pulling the same expression!"

They turned their glares on each other than Jonathan grabbed her arm and lead her out of earshot of Jace, "Why are you doing this Clary? You can't wait fifteen minutes to go get your sword?"

She crossed her arms defiantly, "You have no idea how long you'll take and this is the longest I have ever been without Heosphoros! I _need_ my sword back!"

"So this has nothing to do with Jace?" The question caught her off guard, "What do you mean?"

Jonathan eyed her shrewdly, "This isn't some elaborate scheme to spend time with the golden boy himself is it?"

Her cheeks grew warm, but she rolled her eyes, "Yes Jon, it's all a conspiracy! I nearly died of demon poisoning on my birthday so that I could spend more time with a guy I'd never met before."

He rolled his eyes as well, "Fine, but be careful, like you said, you've never met him before, I think he's fine but still, you shouldn't trust him, not yet. Oh, and can you grab my sword too? And another couple of changes of clothes? Looks like we'll be here a while."

Clary smiled up at him "Sure." Then she turned and walked back to Jace, he raised one eyebrow in a silent question, her smile grew wider, "I'm with you." He nodded once and then led her through the Institute until they reached an ancient looking elevator. They stepped inside and Jace pressed the button.

Once outside, Jace immediately turned and began walking. "Wait!" Clary called after him, cursing her short legs, "Where are you going?" He smirked over his shoulder, "The nearest subway station is a few blocks from here, after that, well, I assume you know where you live?"

Clary growled in frustration, this guy was infuriating. They walked the rest of the way in silence, Clary studiously ignoring her companion which seemed to amuse him no end. They reached their destination and Clary had to break her stony silence to tell Jace which train to take. They boarded the correct one and Clary began wishing, almost instantly, that she had decided to use a glamour rune. Clary had never had any kind of a problem with mundanes so her sudden, fervent desire to hide from them was not without good reason. For one thing she'd been carrying her stele around in her hand since she woke up at the Institute but she'd had to hide it in her boot when they got to the station and it was now sitting pressed rather uncomfortably against her ankle, but mostly the problem was Jace. They'd taken seats next to each other and now Clary wished she'd sat further away, or possibly on a different train all together. It was rather packed, and when Jace got on every eye turned to him and most didn't look away. Clary had forgotten how attractive he really was, okay, that was a lie, but she _had _forgotten that she wasn't the only person whose heart skipped a beat every time he looked at them. And to make matters worse, they were sitting almost directly across from a group of giggling teenage girls.

From the moment Clary and Jace sat down together they'd turned to each other and began discussing everything from his golden eyes to his abs, Clary had no idea how they knew he had abs but they seemed certain that he did. She was sure, that if she could hear the girls than so could Jace but he gave no indication of it, _Maybe he's ignoring them?_ The thought made Clary's spirits lift, but then another possibility occurred, he was simply waiting for one of them to make a move, it didn't improve her mood. She tuned back into the other girl's conversation in time to realise they'd moved onto an equally pressing topic of conversation, Clary. Mostly the fact that there was no way in hell a guy like Jace would be interested in a girl like her. It was true, Jace never would go for Clary but that didn't stop her feeling like crap when the other girls came to the same conclusion instantly. So they turned to a number of different theories as to why he would be spending time with her in the first place, including, but not limited to; siblings, that one made her quite uncomfortable and out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw Jace pull a face. Friends, a pity date, at that point Clary was scowling fiercely and about ready to get up and smack them. And her personal favourite, "Maybe they're in some kind of a cult? Look at their tattoos." which sparked an obsessive discussion over whether or not cult activity could be considered 'hot'.

Inevitably one of the bolder girls got up to talk to him, she had long, dark hair and tight clothes and was, admittedly, quite beautiful and she clearly knew it. Clary rolled her eyes, trying to fight off her sudden, irrational irritation.

The girl strutted over in her too-high heels and stopped in front of Jace, her chest thrusting out suggestively.

"Hi, my name's Renee, do you want to do something with me sometime?" She cocked her hip and smiled winningly, already sure of the answer. Clary snorted, she really didn't waste time with small talk did she? Renee gave her a cold stare, "Oh? And who are you?" Her tone made it obvious she didn't really care. Clary gave her a big grin and stuck her hand out to be shaken, replying in a falsely cheerful voice, "Hi I'm Clary, it's great to meet you." The girl was rather taken aback by her chipper tone and turned rather forcefully back to Jace. Clary let her unshaken hand fall into her lap and glared at the side of the other girls head.

Renee was now going to even greater lengths, biting her lip flirtatiously she said, "Well? You haven't answered yet." Her chest, if possible, trust out even further. Clary laughed aloud. Renee turned back to her and in the voice one might use to address a three year old said, "Is something funny dear?"

Clary leaned back in her seat and smiled scathingly, "I was just thinking, You should get desperate tattooed on your forehead, it might be less obvious, _dear_." Renee spluttered in indignation, "What did you just say to me?" she screeched.

Clary gave her her best shadowhunter glare, the one that said, you do not want to mess with me. "I said go away, _mundie_." She'd never used the term mundane as an insult before, it was a sign of how furious _'Renee'_ was making her, though why that was Clary had no idea, it wasn't as though she'd never dealt with mean girls before. Perhaps Renee sensed this because she backed off rather quickly, only pausing long enough to slip Jace her number, shooting poisonous glares at Clary all the while.

Luckily, Clary and Jace's stop arrived shortly after, which prevented Clary from doing anything she'd really regret, like introducing the mundane to her dagger. They got off the train and Clary saw Jace slip a small piece of paper with a number on it into his pocket. She stomped the rest of the way home, refusing to talk to Jace the entire time.

By the time her house was in sight Clary's mind had shifted focus from her own mixed up emotions to a different, but not unrelated matter. Jace was certainly not her brother, nor would Clary count them as friends, they weren't dating, pity or otherwise and they defiantly weren't cult members but that still posed the question, why _had_ Jace volunteered to do this? She stopped abruptly and turned to him, he shot her an irritated look, "Are you finally talking to me again?" She ignored his question, "Why are you here?" His expression seemed caught between confusion and annoyance, "I followed you, I had assumed you knew where you were going but if I was wrong-"

She cut him off, "No, I mean why are you here? As in on this short escapade?"

His expression cleared, "Oh! Well I had nothing better to do and I felt like getting out of the Institute for a while so…" Clary's heart plummeted slightly, she didn't know what she'd been expecting but this answer, as likely as it was, was somehow disappointing all the same. But something about the way his eyes jumped about as he said it made her suspect he wasn't being one hundred percent truthful. Before she could press him further however he cut her off, "Okay now I've answered one of your questions you have answer one of mine. Why did you scare that poor mundie girl half to death? You weren't jealous were you?" His smirk was maddening.

Clary crossed her arms and glared at him, "First; technically that was two questions, second; 'that poor mundie girl' started it and third; of course I wasn't jealous, I barley know you!" It was true that she barely knew him, but as for the first part she wasn't entirely sure, there was no way, however, that she was letting Jace know that. He looked slightly crestfallen for a moment but then his face smoothed again so quickly Clary couldn't be sure she hadn't imagined it. _Stop it_, she told herself firmly, _he doesn't care. He doesn't like you, get over it. _

"Whatever." He said as though he didn't believe her, though she was pretty sure that he did, the thought made her feel oddly guilty.

"Come on," she touched his arm gently, he flinched slightly but made no move to pull away, "my house is just over there." She nodded in the general direction and began to walk towards it, absentmindedly rubbing her finger-tips together in and attempt to dispel the strange electric tingling in them from touching Jace's skin.

Fifteen minutes later Clary had successfully packed two duffle bags full of clothes and various assorted weapons; Jace had taken one look at the state of Clary's room, shaken his head and gone to wait outside. She stepped out the front door, locking it behind her, and threw one of the bags to Jace who was sitting on the front steps of Clary's small four bedroom house.

"Carry that."

He rolled his but didn't bother trying to protest. They had just made it to the side-walk when a voice sounded behind them, "Clarissa?"

Clary briefly considered making a run for it, but knowing that it would only come back to bite her later she sighed and turned around.

Her next door neighbour was leaning over the fence dressed in a god-awful purple, raw-silk dress, complete with numerous golden chains around her neck and an equally horrifying turban, Clary didn't think that she followed any particular religion so it must have been for show.

"Yes Madame Dorothea?"

"What are you doing?" the older woman asked suspiciously. Clary waved a dismissive hand, hoping to avoid a lengthy conversation, "Just grabbing some stuff."

"And where are your parents?"

Clary fought to keep the irritation out of her voice, "Mom told you this already Dorothea, they're at the farm."

"And why aren't you with them?"

"Jonathan and I are staying at the New York Institute." Jace made a noise of warning behind her but Clary ignored him, Dorothea knew all about shadowhunters.

"Come inside, I'll read you fortunes."

"Dorothea we're really-"

Dorothea held her hand up for silence, "Come inside or I'll call your mother and tell her you're wandering around town with a strange shadowhunter, without your brother I might add, which I'm sure she's forbidden."

Clary sighed in defeat, Dorothea leered and began walking back to her brownstone, "And bring your boyfriend." She called over her shoulder. Clary didn't even bother to correct her she just shot Jace an apologetic smile and began trudging wearily towards the witch's lair.

**As always thank to everyone for all their support. And an extra special shout out to my friend Simone, for always being ready and willing to read what I write, without your enthusiasm I would never finish anything. Thank you also for always making yourself available to give me feedback and help, even if the only thing you ever say is 'Oh my god Kelsey! I love it! You're so good!' I never say no to a bit of ego stroking lol ;) Reviews are always appreciated. I will update soon, until then, Love you all! **

**XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own this series. The Mortal Instruments series and all characters and events relating to it belong to Cassandra Clare. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Seven**

Jace grabbed her arm, "How does she know about shadowhunters? She's not a downworlder."

Clary shook him off, uncomfortable with the burning sensation his touch caused, "She's the adopted daughter of a warlock, she has the sight and she grew up with our stories."

Jace looked apprehensive, "Is she … safe?"

Clary shrugged, "I have no idea, she's always seemed harmless enough, but maybe she's waiting to jump us the second we walk in the door."

Jace looked considerably more cheerful at the possibility of ensuing violence, "Only one way to find out." He moved off ahead of her.

Dorothea's apartment had been decked out to impress mundane clientele, there were beads hung over all the doorways and sickly sweet incense burning in a holder. There were also zodiac posters and spiritual books strewn everywhere. Dorothea stuck her head through one of the beaded doorways, just in time to see Jace replace the book head been looking at.

"Are you quite done snooping through my things?" she asked waspishly.

Jace met her gaze unapologetically, "Yes."

"Come into the parlour, I'll make tea."

She vanished through the door again and Jace called after her, "Not Earl Gray, I hate bergamot!"

Clary shot him a weird look; he was so different from every other boy she'd ever met, except perhaps Jonathan. He opened his mouth to say something, probably to ask why she was staring but she shook her head and led the way into the parlour.

The parlour, as it turned out, was a rather dark room filled with taxidermy bats and birds, old and very dusty Persian rugs and a clump of pink armchairs around a small table. Predictably, the table held a glass ball and an assortment of tarot cards as well as a silver tea service. Clary sat in one of the armchairs and Jace threw himself into the next one. Dorothea came bustling over, "How do you like your tea?"

Clary asked for sugar and Jace said he preferred it black, before long they were both holding steaming cups.

"Drink it quick." She muttered to Jace, he shot her an odd look but obliged. Clary took a sip of her own, it was bitter and tasted of smoke. Previous experiences with Dorothea had taught Clary what was coming next, so when the last dregs of tea were left in the cup she swirled it around and tipped it unceremoniously into a dead pot plant by her seat, effectively removing all the tea leaves.

A moment later Jace finished his tea and the cup was snatched from his hand, "Hey!" he cried out indignantly, "What are you doing?"

Dorothea looked at him as though he was stupid, "I'm going to read your tea leaves."

"You're not a real witch!"

She glared at him, "No I am not, but my mother was an excellent fortune teller and she passed some of her tricks onto me."

She turned to the cup and despite herself, Clary leaned forward.

"I see violence in your future, a great deal of blood shed by you and others. You'll fall in love with the wrong person. Also, you'll have an enemy."

Jace leaned back in his chair, "Unfortunately, Lady of the Haven, my one true love remains myself."

Dorothea roared with laughter, "At least," she said, "you don't have to worry about rejection, Jace Herondale."

Jace flinched at the sound of his last name but kept his easy smile in place, "Not necessarily, I turn myself down occasionally just to keep it interesting."

Dorothea laughed again and then turned to Clary, clicking her fingers impatiently for her cup. Clary handed it over, smirking slightly, Dorothea looked down and finding it free of tea leaves made a noise like an angry goose.

"Never mind that Dorothea," she said hastily, "Why did you bring us here?"

"Yes," said Jace, "Why did you bring us to this sanctuary? Because that's what this is isn't it? I'm willing to bet your mother was a control and left this place to you, and that's a portal isn't it?" he nodded to door set in the wall that couldn't have led anywhere, "so when the clave finds whatever criminal you're harbouring they can escape."

Dorothea's expression was unreadable, "You are familiar with the motto of the covenant?"

"_Sed lex dura lex_." Clary muttered.

Jace's eyes flickered to her and then back to Dorothea, "The law is hard but it is the law."

"Well sometimes the law is too hard."

Jace snorted, "You expect me to believe you do this out of the goodness of your own heart? You're not a vigilante fighting for justice and I very much doubt you're a philanthropist."

Dorothea grinned, "It's true we can't all get by on good looks, but in regards to your original question Clarissa you are here because I have some information for you. I assume you know the story of the original uprising?"

Clary sighed, "My _father_," as always the words burned her throat to say, "led a group of young, promising, shadowhunters against the downworlders, he wanted to start a war against them and wipe them out completely but the other shadowhunters stood with the downworlders, and he was defeated."

Dorothea nodded, "And where does your mother fit into this?"

Jace sat up a little straighter, clearly this wasn't a story he'd heard before.

"My mother and Luke were instrumental in Valentine's defeat, she discovered his plans to massacre the unarmed downworlders at the signing of the accords, what better way to start a war than by killing people at the signing of a peace treaty? Anyway, With Luke's help she spread to word around to be ready, at the signing when his Circle revealed itself they were met with many armed downworlders who were ready to fight, a far cry from what they had been expecting. They were all either killed or arrested, including Valentine. My mother wasn't there and after the fight was over she presented herself to the clave with a bargaining chip, Valentine had stolen the Mortal Cup from the clave and she had stolen it back. She offered it to the clave and in return they gave her freedom, she didn't want to be a shadowhunter anymore but she didn't let them strip her marks, she would leave Idris but she could come and go as she pleased and they wouldn't keep track of her or interfere in her life. The clave weren't happy with her demands but the decided the Mortal Cup was worth it." Clary recited the story she'd grown up with in a long suffering voice, "But I don't understand how this is important."

Dorothea regarded her imperially, "It's important because it's happening again."

Clary felt a dizzying mix of panic and disbelief. Seeing her expression Dorothea huffed in exasperation, "Relax girl, Valentine is well and truly dead."

Jace wasn't nearly as worried as was, "Are you saying there's another uprising?"

Dorothea didn't answer.

"That's impossible! Shadowhunters learned their lesson!"

Dorothea regarded him evenly, unmoved by his outburst, "Perhaps they have, because it's not the shadowhunters who are rising up."

Clary raised her eyebrows at Jace in a question, _did you know about this?_ He shook his head.

Dorothea continued, "A group of downworlders are sick of the tyranny of shadowhunters and want, among other things, to overthrow you. They call themselves 'The Resistance'."

Jace snorted, "Because that's not at all pretentious."

Dorothea glared coldly at him, "Yes, because 'The Circle' is so unassuming and modest."

Mostly to diffuse the growing animosity Clary said, "Madame Dorothea, you said overthrowing shadowhunters wasn't all they wanted."

Dorothea looked suddenly uncomfortable, "They believe that death was too good for Valentine." Her gaze rested apologetically on Clary, "They are calling for his children to suffer for his crimes."

Jace stood abruptly, no longer looking unconcerned, he grabbed Clary's arm, pulling her up with him, "We need to talk to Hodge, _Now_."

**I'm so sorry, between writer's block and computer issues this chapter took way longer than it should have. Speaking of computer issues, does anyone know how to stop my keyboard from randomly switching languages? It keeps changing to German, at least, I think it's German… Anyway, thank you so much for your support, especially those people who have reviewed. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! **

**XD**

**P.S. I've been replying to all the reviews; if that's annoying please tell me. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own this series. The Mortal Instruments series and all characters and events relating to it belong to Cassandra Clare.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Eight**

By the time they left Dorothea's it was dark, Jace hurried along ahead of Clary, his strides so big she had to jog to keep up. They were only a block or so from the subway station when Jace stopped, so suddenly only Clary's shadowhunter training kept her from crashing into his back.

"What are you-"

He held up his hand, cutting off her question. "Did you hear that?"

"What?" she whispered

"Listen."

A soft, inhuman growling noise came from the alley they had stopped in front of, Clary tried to identify the creature making it but the end was swallowed by darkness. By some unspoken agreement both she and Jace moved towards the sound to investigate. They stepped into the darkness, their eyes adjusting slowly to the gloom. Eventually Clary caught sight of an indistinct shape at the end of the alley, two looming forms of slightly denser darkness, but it was enough to identify them by; obviously canine in origin, too wolf-like to be dogs and too large to be wolves.

"Werewolves." muttered Jace, voicing her thoughts. The low growls rose to menacing snarls. He exchanged the seraph blade in his hand for a silver dagger. Clary's own dagger was already in her hand, seemingly appearing there of its own volition the second she sensed danger. Now normally Clary would not resort to violence the moment she was confronted with downworlders, shadowhunters had upheld the accords for years and she would never break them, like she needed to give people more opportunities to compare her to her father. Not to mention the fact that her kind-hearted nature and peculiar upbringing gave her plenty of reason to actually _like_ downworlders, as opposed to the uneasy acceptance that was most shadowhunter's stance. But in this instance all Clary's instincts were screaming _DANGER!_ And she'd long since learned to trust her instincts. Or maybe it was just Dorothea's warning setting her on edge, _a downworlder uprising_, either way; Clary was not going to be lowering her weapon anytime soon.

The werewolves began to pad toward them, Jace raised his dagger, "Stop and identify yourselves."

They stopped but the harsh noises they were making changed, sounding all of a sudden disturbingly like laughter. Exactly what was funny became apparent a moment later, from behind Clary came the whisper-like sounds of graceful bodies falling through the air. She spun around and cold horror settled in her veins, standing behind them and completely blocking any kind of escape attempt, were five vampires, their skin so pale it seemed to glow in the streetlight they were silhouetted against.

"So…" Clary tried for casual, "This is a trap then."

Jace shifted next to her, trying to keep both enemy groups insight, "It would appear so."

Clary shivered, it wasn't the downworlders themselves that had her so scared, she's fought and killed both species before, nor was it the numbers, shadowhunters were almost always outnumbered and she barely noticed the discrepancies anymore. No. What made her want to curl into a ball and scream was the complete and utter wrongness of the situation, vampires and werewolves never worked together, ever. Their species' had an age-old grudge against each other that constantly sparked minor skirmishes and often escalated into all-out wars. And yet here they were, clearly collaborating. Jace raised his voice, "What do you want?" They vampires leered, the one in front raising his hand to point. Directly at Clary.

"Yeah that's not happening." Jace muttered and in a synchronised movement that they probably couldn't have recreated if they tried; they spun and buried their daggers into the hearts of the werewolves who had been silently creeping closer during their distraction. Jace pulled a new one from his seemingly limitless supply of weaponry but as all Clary's other weapons were still in the duffle bags she'd dropped on the ground at the alley's entrance with when they'd first heard the growling, she had no choice but to retrieve her dagger from the body of the werewolf she'd thrown it at, leaving Jace to take on all five vampires until she was armed. He didn't seem to mind though, in fact, as he turned Clary thought she saw him smiling.

Battle calm had overtaken her as soon as the fight broke out but her stomach still turned as she approached the werewolves' bodies, which were slowly and horrifically reverting to human form. Clary removed her dagger and turned, just in time to impale the heart of the vampire who had evaded Jace and lunged at her from behind. He gave a soft moan and slumped to the ground but Clary was already stepping over him. Jace was also on the ground, he'd killed one but a vampire girl had taken him by surprise and was straddling him, her fangs inches from his face, Clary sprang forward, her dagger poised for a killing blow but a the last second cold hands grabbed her and jerked her back. What should have been a blow to the heart fell instead on the girl's neck, spraying vampire blood all over Jace's face. He pressed his advantage and drove his dagger into the vampire girl's heart, cutting off her screams. Meanwhile the hands that had grabbed Clary cast her dagger from her grasp then slide across her throat, not hard enough to construct her airways but enough that the threat was evident. Clary had the uneasy feeling of being pressed against an animate individual, yet feeling no breaths or heartbeat, it was unsettling. Jace stood up and took stock of the situation, Clary's captor spoke, "Let me take the girl or I will kill her in front of you." She couldn't help but grin, people always underestimated her and it never ended well for them. Her elbow snaked out, catching the man in the nose, he gasped in pain and let her go, she ducked, trusting Jace to do the rest. Jace leapt forward and impaled Clary's would-be-kidnapper with one precision move. Clary stood up and surveyed Jace, he looked fresh off the set of a horror movie with half his face covered in blood. She walked to the bags and dug around until she found an old T-shirt then walked back to him and began wiping the blood from his face. He startled a bit at her touch but made no move to stop her, after a moment she spoke in a resigned voice, "Did you get any in your mouth?"

He sighed and nodded, then his gaze turned accusatory, "Which is totally your fault by the way."

Clary rolled her eyes, "Oh gosh Jace, I'm so sorry the vampire I saved you from bled on you when I stabbed it."

He adopted a superior air, "As you should be." but there was a smile playing on his lips. Clary finished shortly after, her fingers lingering on his face a moment longer than necessary, she suddenly became aware of how close they were standing, close enough that they were sharing breaths. She wanted to close the gap, press her lips to his and run her fingers through his hair, but then a memory rose, unbidden to the surface of her mind, the girls from the subway train and their complete conviction in Clary's inadequacy, she took a painful step back, putting more distance between her and Jace. Her tone was surprisingly steady when she spoke next, "Most of the blood's gone but you're still going to need a glamour, otherwise you'll draw too much attention."

He raised an eyebrow, "Look at me! I'm gorgeous, when don't I draw attention?"

Clary smiled sweetly, "You're not too gorgeous right now, pretty boy, in fact you're looking distinctly horrormovieish."

Jace glared at her indignantly, "Pretty boy?"

Clary shrugged and moved to retrieve the bags, "Let's get out of here, come on _pretty boy_."

**Okay this is a pretty short chapter but that's where I wanted to end it, sorry. Anyway I read a review (thank you xoxAmuto4everxox!) That asked me if I would be introducing Simon, I decided to answer in the Author's note just in case anyone else was wondering. Simon will be introduced soon, and he will be human, Clary already knows him he's just not her best friend. This made me a little sad but I just felt that given shadowhunters natural tendency to secrecy plus Clary's overprotective big brother who **_**never**_** leaves her alone they wouldn't have grown close the way they did when she was raised as a mundane. Plus, establishing inter-species friendships when one party belongs to a world that the other doesn't know exists can be hard ;P. Anyway as always thank you for the support, I love you guys!**

**P.S. I've been reading fanfictions and I keep seeing OOC, I live under a rock and therefore have no idea what it means. Help anyone? **

**XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own this series. The Mortal Instruments series and all characters and events relating to it belong to Cassandra Clare.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Nine**

The rest of the trip back to the Institute was…eventful. Despite Clary's warnings Jace had chosen to forgo a glamour and despite Clary's previous experience she sat next to him on the Subway train. And once again regretted it. She had a bit of dirt on her cloths, her hair was a mess and she was splattered with small flecks of blood, but that was nothing compared to Jace, he looked scary. Everyone assumed they had been fighting, and they were subject to suspicious looks the whole ride, though Clary did hear one man whisper jokingly to his friend that they had been out killing people, she caught Jace's eye and tried not to grin, that guy had no idea how right he was. But her good humour was expelled quickly by the worry that had been plaguing her since she left Dorothea's and had grown considerably worse at the conformation of the witch's warnings.

They made it to the Institute eventually, and they weren't even arrested for suspected murder which is always a bonus. Church was waiting for them when they stepped out of the elevator his yellow eyes fixed balefully on them, Clary was willing to bet they were in trouble. "Take us to Hodge." Jace told the cat, a slightly tentative note to his voice as though he, like Clary fancied that the blue Persian was glaring at them. Church stalked off and they followed, Clary dropping back a little ways and watching with bemused affection as Jace conversed with the cat. She wondered briefly what cats liked to talk about and was about to ask but decided, on the whole perhaps it was best not knowing. But maybe Jace was being given the silent treatment because after a while it became apparent that Church _did _resent them for their tardiness as he had led them on a gigantic round-about tour of the Institute and still hadn't taken them to where they needed to go. Jace it seemed, had noticed as well, "You backstabbing Judas! Do you actually know where he is or are you just wasting our time? Take. Us. To. Hodge! And no detours!" Church huffed and slinked away, Jace and Clary following with slightly more trepidation than before.

They were led to the library and by the sound of the voices coming through the slightly open door Hodge wasn't the only one in there.

She identified Jonathan's voice first, "They've been gone for hours we have to do something!"

"Jace can handle-" That was Isabelle.

Jonathan cut her off, "I don't give a crap about Jace but if something's happened to Clary…"

They stepped into the room and all conversation stalled, Jace clasped his hand over his heart in mock hurt, "Jonathan I am wounded, I thought you cared!"

Jonathan ignored him, almost running to Clary and pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. Then he pulled back, he surveyed the state of her and his eyes hardened, "Why are you covered in blood?"

"Am not! It's just a couple spots!"

"You were supposed to be back hours ago!"

"No specific time-frame was given-"

"What the hell happened?"

"It's kind of a long story-"

Jonathan turned to Jace accusingly, "What did you do?"

Jace opened his mouth angrily to reply but Clary cut him off, "Jace!"

He closed his mouth and Clary turned back to Jonathan, "We're going to tell you what happened but first you need to calm down, take some deep breaths, do some yoga or something because we can't tell you if you won't even let us finish a sentence!"

Jonathan stepped back and Clary looked around at everyone else, Hodge was sitting at his desk, waiting patiently for their explanation, Isabelle was casually browsing a bookshelf as if to prove she hadn't been worried which as far as Clary was concerned meant she had been, and Alec was sitting in the armchair Jace had occupied earlier. Clary took a moment to study him, the last time she'd seen him she'd been lying on the floor of a warehouse, filled to the brim with demon poison. The resemblance between him and his sister was astounding, Clary felt a small pang of jealousy, Jonathan and her had never looked much alike. They shared their mother's artist hands despite the fact that Jonathan couldn't draw a straight line with a ruler, and there was something of their father in both siblings jaw-lines, but their most striking resemblance was their eyes, which were the exact same shade of emerald green. As far as likenesses went it wasn't much. They looked just like their parents, Clary like their mother and Jonathan with his nearly-white-blonde hair, striking features and tall, muscular physique, could have been Valentine reincarnated. It was the eyes that made all the difference, Valentine's eyes had been so dark they were nearly black, Jonathan's green ones softened the angles and lines of his face which alleviated the distant, cruel look that was conveyed by Valentine's features and made him far more hansom than Valentine had ever been. But as a result of their lack of similarities Clary and Jonathan were sometimes mistaken as a couple, which was about the grossest thing ever. She doubted Alec and Isabelle had ever had that problem but studying Alec now Clary could see one significant difference between the two, Isabelle was confident, beautiful and outlandish, everything she did seemingly calculated to capture and hold the attention of those around her. Alec on the other hand, seemed to slump in on himself as though he was desperately trying not to get noticed. And he didn't seem to expect to be noticed either, Clary supposed, that between Jace and Isabelle people wouldn't have much time for Alec, it was a sad thought. At that moment Alec looked up and seeing her studying him gave her a small smile then nodded pointedly at Jace as though to remind her she should be paying attention, she blushed slightly and refocused.

Jace was telling them about their visit to Dorothea's and the subsequent downworlder attack, Jonathan had thrown his arm around Clary at the beginning of the story and it tightened painfully around her as Jace told how the vampires had wanted her specifically. Thinking of vampires made Clary remember something, "Jace got vampire blood in his mouth!" she piped up.

Jace glared at her, "Traitor."

Clary shrugged, "Would you prefer we left it alone until you were compelled to wander into a vampire's lair?"

Jace was about to reply but Alec cut him off, "Really Jace? Again? You didn't bite it this time did you?"

Jace looked affronted, "That was _one_ time!"

Hodge spoke before and argument could break out, "This is very troubling news," and indeed he had gone a sickly grey colour, "Jace go to the Infirmary."

Jace glared at them all one last time, then left, slamming the door behind him.

Hodge sighed, "Someone will have to take him the holy water."

"I nominate Clary to do it!" Isabelle cried quickly.

"I second that!" said Alec a moment later.

Clary looked around, confused, "Why?"

Isabelle grinned at her, "He's awful, it puts him in a terrible mood, you have to stay with him and make sure he drinks it, Alec and I have both done it before and we feel our guests should pull their weight."

Alec stepped forward and clapped her on the back, his smile equal parts amusement and sympathy, "You'll be fine, I'll go get the holy water for you."

He disappeared through the door. Hodge cleared his throat, "All right the rest of you clear out, I need to notify the Clave and Maryse and Robert." They all filed out, as soon as the door closed behind them Isabelle grabbed Jonathan's arm and began leading him away, "Good luck Clary," she called over her shoulder, "You're gonna need it."

**Okay, so I think this is going to be a big Author's Note, firstly thank you to lili for answering my question, I really appreciate it. Also a few people have mentioned Clary and Jace's first kiss, or lack thereof. I'm sorry, (I'm not sorry) but I am deriving a malevolent pleasure from drawing this out, I also especially enjoy writing scenes like, they're going to kiss, they're finally going to kiss! And then they…don't. So I'll probably write more (Insert evil laugh here) But in all seriousness, I have been chapter planning and I've already worked out where I want their first kiss to go and It's not too far away now. And now I really want to clarify something, I case people are wondering after reading this chapter, Alec is still gay. I just wanted to say that in case people were wondering 'cause he was nice to Clary, so here's what's going on; Alec is not in love with Jace, in this story Jace and Alec were raised together from babies and I felt it was less likely that he would get romantic feelings toward someone who had stolen his toys and shared his baths for as long as he could remember. Plus Alec's actually a really great guy, but when he's being and arse to our much loved main character it can be hard to remember that, so I really wanted Alec and Clary to be closer this time around. **

**Also, this is completely and totally random but I was thinking about it last night and I figured I may as well share my weirdness with someone and the internet can't give me strange looks so… What's one quality that you find super attractive in the opposite sex? Or same sex if you swing that way? I, for one, think English accents are the sexiest thing ever, and I don't even know why. Sorry, I'm completely mental, feel free to ignore me. :) Thank you for the support! I. Love. You. Guys!**

**XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own this series. The Mortal Instruments series and all characters and events relating to it belong to Cassandra Clare.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Ten**

Clary pushed the door to the Infirmary opened tentatively, trying not to spill any of the Holy water from the gigantic jug Alec had given her. Jace was standing on the other side of the room and didn't turn around when she came in.

"So," he said, "who's drawn the short straw this time?"

Clary took a deep breath, "Me."

Jace spun around and the expression on his face was almost comical, he looked so nonplussed. "Why you?" Clary tried not to get upset, 'why you?' sounded pretty close to 'I don't want you' as far as she was concerned. Jace was still waiting for an answer, Clary scowled at him, "I was nominated, no one else wanted to do it, apparently you're a gigantic pain in the arse, of course I already knew that."

He glared to her for a moment then flopped down on a bed, "Come here then, let's get this over with."

Clary stalled in shock as his words registered, Isabelle and Alec had made it sound like this was nearly impossible, she'd expected him to throw a tantrum at the very least, what she hadn't expected was for him to give in the second she walked through the door.

"O-okay." She stammered, she set the jug down on the bedside table then poured some of it into a glass. Jace glared at it for a moment as though it had personally offended him and then he grabbed it and drank it. They continued like that for a while, until Clary couldn't stand the silence any longer.

"I have to ask, you bit a vampire?"

The ghost of a smile touched Jace's lips, "He never saw it coming."

"Probably because it's a really terrible idea."

He shot a half-hearted glare in her direction, "No-way Clary, I still maintain that this is _your _fault, you _have_ to be nice to me."

She tried to glare back but a smile broke through, "Oh do I now? If it weren't for me you wouldn't be a darkling right now you'd be dinner."

"Would not."

"Oh? Were you going to bite her back?" Clary laughed and Jace glared, which only made her laugh harder.

He didn't answer, Clary looked at him worriedly, his eyes were glassy and his skin flushed with fever, which meant the holy water had begun to do its job. He'd drank all of it by now which meant it was racing through his system, finding the vampire blood and purging it. Jace's eyes closed and Clary reached out to rest the back of her hand on his forehead, checking his temperature. She jerked it away immediately with a small yelp, "Poor baby, you're burning up." She crooned, only realising who she was talking to a second after the words left her lips. She waited for a derisive comment but it never came, his lips just curled slightly. He had nice lips, they looked very soft, _stop being such a perv! _She thought to herself sternly. She got up grabbed the jug and began to move away.

"Don't leave!" Clary looked around, Jace's eyes were open now and he was staring at her pleadingly. She smiled slightly, "I'm not, I'm just getting a cloth and some water, I need to get your temperature down."

Once she found the necessary items she traipsed her way back to Jace's bed. She set the jug down on the bedside table once again and after wetting the cloth applied it to Jace's forehead. He gave a slight moan and she grinned, "Better?" he nodded.

"Tell me something about yourself Clary." It came out as little more than a murmur but Clary had heard him. She studied the runes on his skin wondering what to say, after a moment she landed on something.

"My first ever rune was an Iratze."

Even with his eyes closed he managed to look confused, "Why?"

Clary smiled slightly at the memory, "I was eight and Jonathan and I were in Idris, remember that I said we were allowed to come and go? Well we went a few times to visit our Grandparents and later Aunt Amatis, mom never came though, too many memories. Anyway one day Jonathan and I were exploring Lake Lyn-"

"Always a bad idea." Jace interrupted.

"Exactly, I fell in, you know how poisonous that water is to shadowhunters, it was get the rune or die. It hurt like hell, I cried for hours, but overall it didn't do anything terrible to me, which is a miracle in itself since I was so young. After that our Grandparents and Amatis just portalled to Luke's farm to meet us, we haven't stepped foot in Idris since."

Jace's eye remained closed, and she wondered if he'd fallen asleep, she re-wet the cloth and applied it, once again, to his forehead, he spoke quietly, "Shouldn't you be wearing a nurses' uniform for this?"

Clary rolled her eyes and exclaimed in mock horror, "Oh by the Angel! I knew I forgot something! I can't believe I left my nurses' outfit at home!"

"I can't believe it either, still, there's always next time right?"

Clary laughed, "At least _try_ to pretend this won't happen again!"

They continued like that for a while, light banter and stories. Clary stayed with Jace until his fever broke and he fell asleep.

She got up stiffly and tiptoed to the door. Once outside Clary realised she had no idea where her room was, luckily for her she'd only gone a few steps down the hall when she ran into Isabelle.

"I'm glad I found you! Do you know where I'm sleeping?"

"Oh! Umm… of course, this way." Isabelle turned and Clary fell into step beside the taller girl.

After a few moments of companionable silence Isabelle spoke, "So, how's Jace?"

"He's sleeping."

The other girl raised an eyebrow, "So you didn't have to strangle him then?"

"No, he was fine."

She grinned, "Clary, I'm his sister, you can complain about him to me."

Clary shook her head, "No really, he was fine."

Isabelle stared at her for a moment, "You're actually telling the truth aren't you? Last time I had to do it he threw the jug at me!"

The walked the rest of the way in silence but Clary could see Isabelle shooting her funny looks out of the corner of her eye.

After a while they stopped, "This is your room." Isabelle was still staring at her and it was making Clary really self-conscious. "Thanks, good night." She pushed the door open and stepped inside, too preoccupied by Isabelle's strange reaction to worry about conventional politeness. She looked around, it was a small bedroom furnished with dark wood and sitting on the floor at the foot of the bed was one of the duffle bags she'd bought from home, the other was presumably with Jonathan. She fell on it gratefully, pulling out a pair of pyjamas and changing quickly. It had been an exhaustingly long day and all she wanted to do was sleep. But then she caught sight of a small rectangular object in the pocket of her jeans, her phone. She pulled it out, it was off.

"Dammit." She cursed, pressing the power button, it came to life and she groaned, six missed calls from her mother, six! Well, she'd have to face Jocelyn eventually, so cringing slightly at the lecture that she was sure was incoming she called her mother back.

Jocelyn picked up on the second ring, "Clary! What's going on? I've been trying to call you, I told you I'd be calling every night!"

Clary sighed, "I'm sorry mom, my phone was off and I forgot! _(which was true)_"

"Alright honey, what did you do today?"

Clary was surprised by how easily her mother had backed down, Jonathan must have placated her when she called him, Clary owed him big time. "Nothing much_. (less true)_"

She cast around for something to say, "I had a tour of the Institute, _(before you left this morning)_; I talked to Hodge, _(for about ten minutes)_; and I helped out in the Infirmary, _(After fighting a bunch of downworlders)_."

"That's nice honey, I hope you're having fun! Your Aunt Amatis and you Grandparents wish you a happy birthday, do you want to talk to them?"

Clary groaned, "Can I talk to them tomorrow night? I'm really tired."

"Okay, I love you."

"I love you too, can you give my love to everyone else?"

"Of course, talk to you tomorrow."

"Bye mom."

"Bye Clary."

Clary hung up and dropped the phone onto her bedside table, then she climbed into the bed, it was warm and soft and incredibly comfortable, she was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

**I've been writing gigantic Author's Notes that last couple times so I figured I'd give you a reprieve. Thank you all so much for your support! I love you guys! **

**XD **

**Disclaimer: I do not own this series. The Mortal Instruments series and all characters and events relating to it belong to Cassandra Clare.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Eleven**

Clary was having a nice dream, she was in a park with an attractive boy, he was smiling at her and his eyes were so gold-

She was jerked rudely away from the pleasant scene by a hand on her shoulder, she cried out and her shadowhunter training took over. Before she was even fully awake she'd sat up, the dagger she'd placed under her pillow the night before already in her hand, and slashed wildly at the indistinct figure sitting on her bed. It gave a masculine cry of indignation and clamped a strong, calloused hand over her wrist, preventing further attacks. After a moment her would-be victim came into focus, it was Jace.

"You tried to stab me." He said accusingly.

There was barely any light in the room, "What time is it?" asked Clary dumbly.

He shrugged, "Five-ish."

"In the morning?" her voice shot up a few octaves with her outrage, "I wish I _had_ stabbed you!"

"I told you not to wake her up." Jonathan was standing in the doorway, looking completely alert and very amused. Jace glared at him, "You told me she'd be grumpy, you didn't tell me she'd try to impale innocent bystanders!"

Clary glared at him, jerking her wrist from the loose grip he still maintained on it, "As far as I'm concerned anyone who wakes someone up at _five in the morning_ could never be considered innocent!"

He shook his head at her, "I thought you had shadowhunter training, we all wake up this early, your brother did."

Jonathan laughed, Clary glared at him, he was enjoying this too much, "Yeah, the one thing mom actually wants us to take away from training and Clary refuses to learn, you should see the ordeal we have to go through to get her up at eight to get ready for school."

Jace snorted, "You go to _school_? As in _Mundane school_?"

"Well not right now, it's holidays, but yes, what else would we do all day?" Clary reasoned.

Jace rolled his eyes, "What every other shadowhunter in the history of the world does, train."

"Mom and Luke have mundane jobs, there isn't anyone at home during the day."

He looked like he was about to say something else, but changed tack at the last moment, "So what's school like?"

Clary rolled her eyes, "Hideously boring, I like art class though."

"What kind of stuff do you learn?"

"We learn a lot about mundane history, do you have any idea how many wars they've had? It's like they _want_ to go extinct."

Jonathan cleared his throat, Clary jumped and sat back, she hadn't realised how close they'd been leaning toward one another. Jace stood "Right, get ready quick."

"Right," she said in the same carefully controlled voice, "Get out."

For a moment Jace stared at her in bewilderment and hurt, and then Jonathan spoke up, "She needs to get changed." His tone was light but the glare he was giving Jace conveyed an obvious warning.

Both boys stepped out of the room, closing the door behind them.

Ten minutes later Clary stepped out after them, freshly showered and wearing yet another jeans-and-singlet ensemble. Jace glanced at her, "Took you long enough."

Jonathan snorted, "For Clary that was incredibly fast." She kicked him in the shin then turned to Jace, "So, you'd better have a good reason to get me up at this ungodly hour."

He gave her a devilish grin that made her heart race, "Of course, we're going to train, time to see what you're made of Morgenstern."

Clary had to admit, the training room was incredible, sparring dummies and targets lined the walls, with plenty of space cleared in the middle for hand to hand combat, and ladders and planks crisscrossing mid-air for balance practice, she supposed they would have harnesses as well, so they could practice turns, falls and somersaults without the danger of getting hurt. In one corner there were a few benches, which was where Alec and Isabelle were sitting, Clary made to move toward them but Jace snagged her arm, "Sorry Clary, you're with me."

Obviously he meant sparring, but Clary wondered why he chose her first, was he deliberately trying to stop her from observing his fighting style, or was he curious about her abilities, maybe he was just looking for instant gratification and figured she'd be an easy target, the latter seemed most likely. But there was no way in hell Clary was going down without a fight; she was going to win this.

They stopped in the centre of the room and faced one another; Clary hadn't seen much of Jace's fighting skills, but enough to know he was an impatient person, someone who liked things happening, and someone who would make the first move. Sure enough, as soon as Isabelle called go, there was no circling or sizing up, Jace just lunged. But Clary had lived sixteen years of having only one sparring partner, Jonathan, it had taught her a thing or two. She could tell by Jace's eyes that he'd expected this fight to end quickly, she'd wager they usually did, you never knew just how fast someone was until you faced them yourselves, his speed would catch most opponents off-guard and the fight would be over before it began; but Clary wasn't most opponents. When Isabelle had yelled go, Clary had moved too, a quick sidestep that bought her out of range of Jace's attack. Encountering no resistance from her he stumbled, making it all too easy for the round-house kick Clary sent his way to send him to the floor. He was up almost instantly and for a while they traded blows, Jace's surprise at being bested, however temporarily, gave Clary the upper hand for a short time but he was quickly regaining his rhythm. When she was mere minutes away from being taken down Clary decided it was time for another unexpected move. She grinned at Jace then turned and ran. It was such a random and senseless thing to do, not to mention completely out of character for Clary, that for a moment Jace just stood there and watched, which was all the head start she needed. She threw herself at one of the ladders, climbing to one of the higher-most balance beams. Once she reached the top she barely had time to turn before Jace was on her again, instantly she realised her mistake. This was Jace's element, he'd probably been training on these things since he could walk, not to mention the fact that if he did fall off he'd probably be fine, Clary on the other hand? Not so much. She needed to get her feet back on the ground. She risked a glance down, a few metres below was another beam, exactly what she needed. Clary stepped neatly off the beam she was standing on but only fell for a second before she came to a jarring halt, hanging in mid-air. Jace had reached out and caught the back of her shirt, he was kneeling on the beam and Clary had seconds at best before he pulled her back up and then it would all be over. She pressed her fingertips against the material of her shirt, already strained by the combined force of gravity and her own weight; then she dug them in and pulled. The fabric ripped like paper and Clary dropped to the beam below. Jace gave a startled yell as her weight suddenly disappeared from his hand, causing him to overbalance. But she didn't spare him a second thought, she ran lightly along the beam the dropped down to the next one, continuing like that until she reached the last beam. Clary threw herself down those last four metres to the ground, rolling as she hit to absorb the impact of her fall. Then she stood and waited, a second later Jace landed, he's simply jumped from the top beam and her ripped shirt was still clutched in his hand. He turned to her and froze, his eyes widening and a slow blush creeping across his skin, Clary didn't pause to wonder at his distraction, she just attacked.

She swept her leg low, knocking his from underneath him than leaped, straddling him lightly she pressed both fists on his chest in an unmistakable gesture, _'if I'd had a knife, you'd be dead.'_ She met Jace's eyes, a grin pulling at the corners of her mouth and stalled, there was an expression on his face that had nothing to do with fighting. Without the cold, single-mindedness of battle Clary was able to look back over the last few minutes with dawning horror, she'd ripped her shirt; Jace was actually holding it right now, which meant she wasn't wearing a _shirt_! No boy had ever seen her shirtless before and now here she was, sitting on one, Jace no less, who was the most gorgeous boy she'd ever seen, and who was also, practically a stranger, and she was in her bra. And to make matters worse, his own shirt had ridden up slightly, exposing a band of golden muscle, as if she needed anything to make her blush harder. A pair of strong hands grabbed her and pulled her up, which she was grateful for, since humiliation appeared to have frozen her joints. Alec and Isabelle were roaring with laugher and when she met Jonathan's gaze, who was of course to one who had rescued her, his lips were curved as well. His expression softened slightly at the look of panic in Clary's eyes, "I thought as much," he shook his head, "you know you're completely insane right?"

He sighed, pulled his shirt off and pulled it over Clary's head. Isabelle's voice came, in between fits of laugher, "Is there some kind of a stripping game going on that I don't know about?"

Clary's face, if possible, got even redder. Jonathan called back, "No, I just think it's more important that Clary's wearing a shirt than me, you know how teenage boys are, massive pervs." The last line was delivered with a poisonous glare at Jace, Clary just stared stoically at her feet, wishing desperately that glamours worked against shadowhunters, what she wouldn't give to be invisible right now. Jonathan squeezed her arm, "Maybe you should go and get changed." She nodded and turned, using every ounce of her willpower to stop herself from running from the room and silently contemplating the logistics of fleeing the country.

**LOL, I don't even care if the rest of the world hates it, this is my favourite fight scene from this story. A lot of you probably thought that was major OOC (haha I know what that means now) for Clary, but I don't think so. Clary was trained as a shadowhunter and shadowhunter's are life and death, when they're fighting one false move could get them killed and I don't believe that they could let go of that, even during play-fighting. A shadowhunter fights to win, always. That's just the mindset they have, and as soon as the fight was over Clary's essential Claryness re-established itself and she became adorably flustered. And even if it was OOC I don't even care 'cause Clary was mega badass and I loved writing this chapter So. Freaking. Much. Thank you so much for everyone's support especially lindsayhonaker for reviewing so much! I love you guys!**

**XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own this series. The Mortal Instruments series and all characters and events relating to it belong to Cassandra Clare. **


	12. Chapter 12

**Twelve**

Clary had been standing outside the door of the training room for the last ten minutes, trying to work up the courage to go inside. It had only taken her a moment to change clothes, as soon as she'd stepped into her room she'd dug through her bag until she found a long-sleeved shirt with a high neck-line as though covering as much skin as possible now could somehow counteract how much she had shown before. She'd considered simply hiding in her room but she suspected someone would probably come looking for her and drag her out anyway, the real clincher however, was that she didn't want Jace to think she was hiding from him, even if that was exactly what she was doing. Now though she couldn't seem to take the last few steps, she'd thought it taken a lot of will power not to run from the room but it was going to take a hell of a lot more to walk back in. After a few more moments of teetering uncertainty Clary sighed irritably and stepped forward, it wasn't as though things could get any worse.

As soon as the doors closed Clary couldn't help but scan the room, her eyes fell on him almost instantly, he was in the middle of the room, fighting Jonathan, her immediate reaction was relief, anything to postpone the moment she would have to talk to him. Her second reaction, following hot on relief's heels was dismay. Whether it be some macho-man display or simply the stifling heat of the room the fact remained that Jace, like Jonathan, had removed his shirt. She watched for a moment of awed fascination as the muscles of his perfectly tanned chest flexed attractively, some part of her brain was drooling, but mostly she was focused on her renewed sense of inadequacy, the contrast between her and Jace didn't even bare thinking about. She tore her eyes away from him and turned to the benches where Alec and Isabelle sat.

When she sat down Alec gave her a reassuring sort of a smile and Isabelle, clearly also attempting to be comforting though she failed dismally said, "I really wouldn't worry about it. I doubt you're the first girl to straddle Jace while half-naked." Clary cringed, half-naked was not a phrase she liked at the moment, but under those feelings was a possessive jealousy that surprised Clary with its intensity. _Yep, it's official, I've gone crazy._ Alec shot Isabelle a glare, "That's not helpful."

He turned to Clary, "Ignore her, she has no social skills, you should be very proud of yourself, there are very few people in the world who can claim to have beaten Jace in a fight."

Clary felt a glow of pride but her own practicalities quashed it, "It kind of feels like I cheated." Isabelle snorted but Alec continued to regard her steadily, "You fought with your head, and you were really good, most people go down in the first couple seconds, besides, maybe you should feel privileged by Jace's preoccupation, the number of people who can claim to have distracted him during a fight is nearly as small as the number of people who have beaten him." He could have meant that it was rare to catch Jace on a day of low concentration but it sounded more intimate to Clary, as though she was special, that thought, more than Isabelle's jokes and Alec's praise allowed her to relax enough to turn her attention to the match in the middle of the room.

It was the most incredible fight Clary had ever seen, Jace and Jonathan were moving so fast they seemed to blur, twisting and kicking and jumping and flipping as though they were locked in a beautiful and shockingly brutal dance. In speed, strength and skill they looked evenly matched, but even as she watched Clary could see the distinction beginning to show, Jonathan, easily the more level-headed of the two, had learned Jace's style and was beginning to combat it. Which only drove Jace to even greater lengths, the fight, if possible, got even more vicious, nearly every blow was now drawing blood and neither looked even close to being done. Isabelle sighed and stood up, "I'm going to go break that up before they kill each other, plus I don't think Jace's ego could stand losing twice in one day." She walked towards them and after a few minutes of shouting they nodded and stepped away from each other, Isabelle immediately claimed Jonathan's attention and Jace turned and began walking towards the benches, toward _Clary_. Short of getting up and running from the room she had no escape, she really wished Jace would change his mind and go somewhere else, or at the very least put on a shirt, but at this point neither looked likely. He sat down next to her and she couldn't help but stare, there was blood in his hair and skin was mottled with bruises and yet despite all that he was still outrageously attractive, it wasn't fair. There was no way however, that she was telling him that, "You look terrible." She reached for his arm and applied an iratze, he sighed in relief then nodded toward the combat space in the middle of the room, "Were you watching?" Her eyes followed his, Isabelle and Jonathan were engaged in a half-hearted wrestling match which quickly dissolved into a make-out session, Clary wished they wouldn't, despite the other girls abrasiveness Clary rather liked Isabelle and wasn't particularly enjoying seeing her ravaged by her brother.

Clary tore her eyes away, some things should be left unseen, "I assume you mean your fight as opposed to the atrocity currently being performed?"

He grinned wryly and nodded, Clary couldn't help but smile back, "It was incredible, I've been sparring with Jonathan pretty much since I could walk, but until today I had no idea how much he'd been holding back." She wanted to say something about how amazing Jace was, but even in her head it sounded desperate so she stayed quiet. Jace looked as though her answer disappointed him somehow but he nodded, "I've always been able to move like that but I have no idea how."

Clary looked sharply at him, he was telling the truth, he had no idea what had happened to him. She should tell him, it was the right thing to do, but still she held back, it was a secret she'd kept carefully for years, the number of people who knew could be counted on one hand. Even in the face of someone who deserved to know a life-time of keeping secrets made her hesitate. And the worst thing was, that wasn't even the real reason she couldn't seem to open her mouth, she was afraid, afraid that he would finally hate her, and selfish as it was she wanted him without complications a little while longer. Her phone buzzed, breaking her from her reverie, she read the message quickly and nearly sighed in relief. She'd just been handed the perfect get-out-of-jail-free and as wrong as it was she was going to take it. Clary stood up, shooting a distracted sort of smile at Jace, "I have to do something." She indicated her phone, "be back soon." She hurried from the room, trying not to drown in her guilt.

**Sorry this is pretty short and pretty bad. Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing, favouriting and following! I love you all!**

**XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own this series. The Mortal Instruments series and all characters and events relating to it belong to Cassandra Clare.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thirteen**

Jace watched as Clary jumped up as if she'd been stung and hurried from the room, he couldn't help wondering morosely if it was because of him. She fascinated him, more so than any other girl he'd ever met, which, if he was honest wasn't saying much since he rarely even found them interesting. He'd always been able to read people like a book and pretty girls had always been particularly transparent to him; but Clary was different, for one thing she wasn't just pretty, she was beautiful, which was not a term Jace applied lightly, and for another she was a complete mystery. She was surrounded by a mass of secrets and lies so dense it made her hard to see, every time he managed to coax the truth from her all it seemed to do was illuminate more mysteries, he'd find it frustrating if it weren't so damn enticing. He'd spent nearly every waking moment with her since they met and he still didn't even know if she liked him as a person, let alone in any other capacity.

And then there was the fight. Jace had never frozen before, not once, but when he saw her standing there his mind had gone blank of everything but her, she could've killed him and he doubted he'd have made a move to stop her. And then when she was sitting atop him with an expression not dissimilar to one of a sleepwalker waking up in an unfamiliar and scary place he'd wanted to kiss her so badly it was like a physical ache. A male sigh sounded from somewhere behind him and Jace nearly jumped out of his skin, he'd forgotten Alec was sitting there.

"For God's sake Jace just go after her, you're not fooling anyone!" His _parabatai_ was glaring at him with a mixture of irritation and amusement. Jace opened his mouth for a denial, closed it again, then sighed resignedly, got up and followed Clary.

She was harder to find then he would've thought, he checked all the most obvious rooms and she wasn't in any of them, then an idea occurred to him, maybe she'd gone outside, she could've got a phone message to meet someone, it would explain her abrupt departure.

When he reached the front door it was hanging open and Clary was standing on the sidewalk talking to a boy. Jace's first thought was that he was her boyfriend and he warred for a moment with the strangely conflicting emotions of despair and possessive jealousy. Then he noticed another girl standing there, holding hands with the boy. Which made it extremely unlikely that he was dating Clary, though that still didn't completely expunge Jace's feelings, ridiculous as they were. He didn't go outside, he just stood unobtrusively in the doorway watching.

The other two were werewolves, but it clearly wasn't any kind of business interaction, they were chatting and laughing like old friends. Jace couldn't help but marvel at Clary's kindness and acceptance, there were very few shadowhunters who could honestly count downworlders among their friends.

Soon after the trio said good-bye with hugs all around, the werewolves began walking hand-in-hand down the street and Clary turned back towards the Institute. Jace wasn't fast enough to move and she saw him.

"Jace? What are you doing here?" she stopped in front of him. He shrugged and changed the subject, "Who were they?" he asked nodding towards the two retreating figures.

"They're friends of mine, Maia goes to school with me, she's in most of my classes, and that was her boyfriend Jordan."

"What were they doing here?"

Clary rolled her eyes, "They claimed they were 'in the neighbourhood' and decided to drop by. But Luke is close with their pack and Maia works part time for him, he obviously called in a favour to have me checked up on, they'll probably be 'in the neighbourhood' again tomorrow. You'll notice no one is keeping tabs on Jonathan." She crossed her arms and scowled, the model of a disgruntled teenager.

"Can I umm…" she indicated coming inside.

"Oh, yeah sorry."

She made to step passed him at the same moment Jace moved to get out of her way, and instead they crashed into each other. It would have been so easy, just to step back and out of the way, but how could he not kiss her, when she was standing this close? So instead of doing the smart thing, the safe thing, and moving away he moved closer, his lip crashing into hers.

She stiffened, and for one heart-stopping moment Jace thought she was going to pull away but then she relaxed and was as much in it as him. Some tiny, rational part of his brain was screaming at him to stop, to think about what he was doing, this girl could ruin him. But it was a small part and so easily disabled by the slide of Clary's tongue across his lips. And then all of him was screaming something else entirely, he should never, ever stop kissing Clary, it was incredible. She was a sensory overload and he was drunk on the way she tasted, the way she smelt. Her fingers were wound tightly through his hair, and though countless other girls had done it before her it had never felt like this, as though all his nerve endings were firing at once. Everywhere she touched him burned, like her very presence was raising his internal temperature. He bit her lip softly and a shiver reverberated through her body. One of his hands clasped her lower back, holding her tight, the other twisted though her hair, entwining it so much he doubted he could have removed it if he wanted too, and he sure as hell didn't want to.

Eventually though, practicalities forced some level of separation on them, namely, oxygen or lack thereof. Neither moved to step away from each other though, they remained in a tangled embrace, chests heaving, standing so close that Jace could feel Clary's heart racing, he didn't think too much of it though because he felt sure she could also feel his. He looked at her face, her eyes were wide and her lips were slightly swollen from kissing, she also looked vaguely shell shocked as though she wasn't entirely sure what had just happened. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the tell-tale sounds of the elevator. He sighed irritably and disentangled himself from Clary, moving to close the Institute's doors. By the time he'd slid the last bolt home the elevator had opened to reveal Jonathan. He leant casually against the back wall of the elevator, his expression hardening as he took in their swollen mouths and dishevelled hair, "Hodge wants to talk to us." He addressed Clary, and then his gaze fell threateningly on Jace, "All of us."

Clary glanced apologetically at Jace then led the way between the pews of the cathedral to the elevator and Jonathan. As soon as they stepped inside Jonathan placed himself between them like a physical barrier and pressed the button aggressively. When the doors slid open again, at the foyer he grabbed Clary's arm and dragged her away, down the hall, but Jace could still here their conversation.

"Seriously Clary? Your lack of self-control is appalling!"

They walked further down the hall, seemingly forgetting that Jace was behind them. Clary's reply came almost too quiet to hear, "I only have one thing to say to you Jonathan; _Isabelle_, you filthy hypocrite!"

All in all perhaps it was better they'd forgotten about Jace, they seemed to be settling in for a major dispute.

**So, This was a chapter of firsts, first Jace and Clary kiss, first introduction of Jordan and Maia, also last, I'm afraid, which totally sucks because Jordan's one of my favourite characters but you guys should see the story outline for this thing, there is absolutely nowhere I can cram anything extra! This is also the first first-kiss scene I've written that has ever been shared with anyone else, so I hope it's okay. And I'm sorry if Jace's reflection on the fight was a little weird; I wanted to keep it tasteful, which also meant keeping it super vague. Anyway THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT! I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!  
><strong> 

**XD **

**Disclaimer: I do not own this series. The Mortal Instruments series and all characters and events relating to it belong to Cassandra Clare.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Fourteen**

Even the after-glow of Jace's kisses was not enough to lighten what Hodge had to tell them. Everyone gathered in the library, crowding around his desk, Jonathan asked the question on everyone's minds, "Is this about 'The Resistance'?" His tone held a mocking edge as he uttered the groups' name but no one smiled.

Hodge sighed, "Unfortunately not. I've talked to the Clave, the number of downworlder attacks is on the rise but everyone is turning a blind eye, no one wants the Accords to be broken, it would mean war, and with the way downworlder numbers have risen over the years it's a war we may not win."

At that everyone became very pale and Jonathan spoke up angrily, "So their solution is just to stand by and let them have free reign?"

"You know how the Clave work, they're not going to act without irrefutable evidence."

"A testimony is irrefutable evidence! Dorothea may be a mundane but she's part of the shadoworld!"

Hodge's hands clenched, "But that's the thing! There _are_ no testimony's! Apart from Jace and Clary whom are sixteen and therefore unlikely to be taken seriously no shadowhunter has ever seen the group in action and lived to tell about it! And no downworlder is going to come forward, any of them that haven't joined 'The Resistance' are keeping their heads down and staying the hell out of the way!"

"I'm nearly seventeen!" muttered Jace reproachfully.

Hodge glared at him, "You know as well as I do that until you turn eighteen you're not an adult, no one is going to start a war on the word of a child."

Jace glared back and Hodge's shoulders slumped, as if all the fight had gone from him, "I know you're not a child Jace," he said quietly, "But you know I'm right."

For the first time since she'd walked into the room Clary spoke, "Okay, so why are we here?"

Hodge smiled tiredly, "I have a job for you, the number of murders and missing persons in the area around the Alto Bar in Brooklyn has increased exponentially," he screwed up his nose, "drunk mundanes make easy targets. Anyway, reports suggest a group of Eidolon Demons, I need you guys to go down there and check it out, kill them if you can. And you have the perfect cover, there's a band playing tonight," he checked his notes, "it's called Lawn-Chair Crisis."

Jace made a chocking sound, "You want us to go listen to a band called _Lawn-Chair Crisis_?"

Hodge checked his notes again, "Last week it was called Rock Solid Panda."

"And they change their name weekly, this just keeps getting better and better."

Hodge ignored him, "With everything that's going on right now I wouldn't send you unless I thought it was necessary, and obviously I can't come with you, so you will all have to promise to stay together."

Jonathan looked confused, "Why can't you come?"

Clary rolled her eyes, "Honestly Jon! You'd know these things if you paid the slightest bit of attention to history!"

He grinned at her, "I don't _have_ to pay attention in history, that's what I have you for, my dearest sister."

She glared at him, "Hodge can't leave the Institute because-" She broke off, realising it might be a touchy subject, but Hodge smiled benevolently at her and gestured for her to continue. "The Lightwoods and Hodge were part of fath- Valentine's inner circle, they fought at the final battle but surrendered, the Clave banished them to the New York Institute and cursed Hodge so that he could never leave."

Silence descended on the group, Isabelle and Alec looked particularly grim, it's not nice to be reminded that your parents were once on the wrong side. Though Clary doubted they understood half of what her and Jonathan felt, their father wasn't _on_ the wrong side, he _was _the wrong side.

It was Isabelle who spoke first, "What time does the band play Hodge?"

He looked again at the flyer on his desk, "Eight O'clock."

Isabelle grabbed Jon's wrist and checked his watch, "Excellent, we have two hours until we have to leave."

Clary started in surprise, it was that late already? Where had that day gone?

Isabelle grabbed Clary and began dragging her to the door, "Come on Clary, well go to my room, I _need_ to find you something decent to wear."

Clary tried to pull away, she'd hoped to spend a bit more time with Jace and judging by the frustration on his face he'd been thinking something similar. "Isabelle, there is nothing wrong with my clothes!"

She stopped trying to pull Clary's arm out of its socket and turned to face her instead, giving a critical once-over that made Clary feel instantly self-conscious, "From what I've seen the only thing you own is jeans and T-shirts."

Clary opened her mouth to deny it but since it was true she changed tack, "There's nothing wrong with jeans and T-shirts!"

Isabelle smiled conspiratorially, "There is tonight." And with that Clary was dragged from the room.

Fifteen minutes later Clary was standing in Isabelle's exploded disco ball themed bedroom, wearing one of Isabelle's shirts, _as a dress._

"I cannot wear this!"

Isabelle glared at her, "Of course you can!"

"I look like a hooker!"

Her frown deepened, "Watch it! Those are my clothes you're wearing!"

"Exactly! I am wearing your _shirt_! As in, designed to go with pants!"

"You're short, you can pull it off."

She was digging around in her wardrobe, and immerged triumphantly a second later brandishing a pair of stiletto-heeled knee-high boots. Clary stared at them for a moment, unlike her who wouldn't wear a pair of shoes without first putting a soundless rune on them; Isabelle seemed to enjoy the novelty of noisy, inappropriate footwear.

Clary shook her head, "No way Isabelle, we have to fight tonight! I'll break my ankle!"

"You're a shadowhunter! Don't even try to pretend you can't balance in them!"

"But they're so uncomfortable!" she whined

"I don't care, like I said before, you're short, you need all the help you can get."

Clary glared at her for a moment and then pulled them on, they fit surprisingly well and even had a sheath hidden in them so she wouldn't have to go without her dagger.

Isabelle eyed her appreciatively for a moment and then gestured to the chair in front of her dresser, "Now sit down, I have to do your make-up."

Clary shook her head.

"Clary!" Isabelle's voice had taken on a pleading note, "I've barely had any contact with girls my own age! Are you really going to deny me the opportunity for girly things?"

"I don't do girly things Isabelle!"

She glared, "Either you sit down willingly and let me do your make-up or I tie you to the chair with my whip."

Clary laughed, "The easy way or the hard way huh Isabelle?"

The other girl fingered her weapon dangerously and Clary decided it might be a good idea just to do as she was told.

Isabelle clapped delightedly as she sat down and immediately pounced with a flurry of brushes.

"So Clary, have you kissed my brother yet?"

Clary looked up quickly; Isabelle's reflection was staring at her shrewdly through the mirror.

"Who?" she asked innocently.

Isabelle rolled her eyes, "Jace of course! I'm hardly talking about Alec he's-" she clapped her hand over her mouth to stop the rest of the sentence but the damage was done.

"Gay?" Clary guessed. Isabelle nodded, "Don't tell anyone! You know what a huge deal that is for shadowhunters!"

Clary shook her head, "I won't tell, but you know in the mundane world it's not that big a deal, they even hold parades for it."

Isabelle sighed, "I don't think there are any gay shadowhunter parades in our future," her face twisted in disgust, "they're treated so badly they'd rather fall on their seraph blade than admit to having 'unnatural urges'."

"Does your family know?"

"Jace and I do, I keep trying to convince Alec that our parents would love him no matter what, but the worst thing is I'm not even entirely sure that it's true and I think he knows it."

They both lapsed into silence for a while then Isabelle dragged them back to their original topic, "I'm going to assume from the way you were blushing before that I was right. Just… don't break his heart okay? He has enough issues as it is."

Clary's mouth hung open, that was not at all what she'd expected and the very thought that she of all people could break Jace's heart was ridiculous.

Isabelle correctly interpreted her expression, "He treats girls the way normal people treat newspapers, he picks one up, figures her out and then drops her. Like buying figurines to put on your mantle-piece, you buy them because they're pretty and mildly interesting for a short time, not because they hold any real value. I've never seen him get so much as a crush on anyone before but you're different. You didn't know him before so you can't understand how strange it is to see his eyes following someone around the room, you're all he sees."

Clary was speechless, caught between asking Isabelle to repeat the entire thing, (especially the last bit) and accusing her of mental instability because there was no way she was _that_ special. But Isabelle spoke first, "All done!"

Clary looked in the mirror, and did a double take, her freckles had been obliterated by perfect foundation and a cream-and-roses complexion, her eyes were surrounded by smokey make-up that bought out the vibrant green in them and her lips were smudged pale pink. She looked…beautiful.

Isabelle gave a self-congratulatory smile, "You look awesome! Now get up, I need to get ready."

**SIMON IS COMING! Sorry about the unseemly amount of time it has taken me to update! Christmas draws closer which means family activity is required, and speaking of family activity, tomorrow I am going to my grandparent's house for a week-ish and they don't have internet or phone signal **** so I will not be able to update. :'( I will try and do some writing though and will update as soon as I get back! Thank you everyone for your support! I love you all sooo much!**

**Merry Christmas! (Or you know, any other holiday that you are currently celebrating ;P)**

**XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own this series. The Mortal Instruments series and all characters and events relating to it belong to Cassandra Clare.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Fifteen**

Simon peeked uncertainly out of the curtain, Alto Bar was unusually crowded and he had no idea why, it seemed unlikely that all of these people were here to see his crappy band. Erik leaned over his shoulder and whistled, "It's totally packed out," -he never really understood what Simon had, that their band wasn't actually good- "I knew it was only a matter of time, the people love us."

Simon rolled his eyes, he had no idea who 'the people' were and didn't doubt for a second that Erik had no clue either, he may have been Simon's best friend but he was defiantly still an idiot.

"Hey man, isn't that Clary?" Simon scanned the room, sure enough sitting at one of the tables was Clary, she was with her brother –no surprise there; he never left her side- and three other people Simon had never seen before. He withdrew his head quickly before she could catch sight of him.

The rest of the band crowded around, smiling their mocking grins.

"Isn't she that red-head that's in most of your classes?" Kirk inquired.

"Yeah," said Matt, understanding dawning in his eyes, "the one you're in love with!"

Simon blushed, "I am not in love with her!" he insisted, but Erik continued as if he hadn't spoken, "Yeah, I never got that, how can you be in love with someone you don't even speak to?"

"I do speak to her!"

Kirk rolled his eyes, "'Did you understand last nights' homework?' is not a real conversation."

Simon folded his arms and glared "What do _you_ think I should say to her than?"

"I want to bang you like a drum?" suggested Erik and they all burst out laughing.

After they'd calmed down everyone looked back out the curtain again, she was deep in conversation with the people at her table.

"Wow," muttered Matt, "Who's that other girl she's with? Super hot!"

Simon eyed him shrewdly, "Don't you have a girlfriend?"

He shrugged, "Yes, but that doesn't mean I can't make an objective observation."

"Since when was 'Super hot' an objective observation?"

"About as objective as I can get, looking at that."

Erik clapped his hands together, "It doesn't matter who she's with! Simon, go talk to her!"

Simon glared at him, "_I_ think it matters who she's with, I've never seen Jonathan willingly let someone flirt with his sister."

"Shouldn't be a problem, you're not straightforward enough or brave enough to actually flirt with her."

And then Erik, completely ignoring the death glare Simon was sending his way, pushed him out the curtain, "Go!"

He turned and began walking off the stage and as he did, he distinctly heard Kirk say, "You do realise that one of those guys she's with, you know, the ones that look like they could be models, is probably her boyfriend."

"I know," muttered Erik, "but it's about bloody time he got over her."

He nearly turned back but Erik was right, to harm could come from talking to her so he squared his shoulders and set out across the room.

While walking towards Clary's table he was cornered by Maureen, she was the bands biggest fan and with her pale blond hair, small stature and wardrobe that looked as if it had been thrown up on by a rainbow she looked even younger than she actually was, which was unfortunate due to her rather large crush on Simon.

He managed to dodge her by promising to see her after the show and then he kept moving.

Clary looked different, for one thing she was dressed in a way he'd never seen on her before, knee-high stiletto boots which only extenuated how short and tight her dress was, coupled with a leather jacket, the whole outfit was black, in fact the only spots of colour on her was her pale pink lips, bright green eyes and fiery red hair. She looked totally badass; but that wasn't really the biggest change, at school Clary slumped in on herself, she sat in the corners of rooms and kept quiet, doing everything she could not to draw attention to herself. Now, however, she sat with a quiet kind of confidence, he's always thought of her as shy and timid but looking at her now she may have been a little shy but she was by no means timid. There was a fierceness about her that he'd never noticed before, a coiled readiness that belayed her relaxed stance as though she could jump into action at a moment's notice. And though she appeared to be conversing with her companions, her eyes roved constantly around the room, watching everyone. He'd never seen her play much sport, she didn't participate a lot during P.E. and Simon had assumed that she, like him, lacked the co-ordination and enthusiasm for it, but her exposed legs showed off bands of muscle, he wondered why someone would pretend to be bad at sport, but that though was over-shadowed by another, the realisation that he didn't actually know Clary at all.

It occurred to him then that perhaps he should be afraid of this tiny, mysterious girl, and he was. But the moment passed and he pushed the feeling aside, it was ridiculous. Simon continued toward their table, still intending to at least talk to her, Clary looked torn between exasperation and anger, she appeared to be arguing with Jonathan, he was trying to convince her to change clothes,

"Clary that dress is so tight it's like a second skin!"

"I didn't choose it!" she protested, "Blame Isabelle!"

The dark haired girl, the one Matt thought was 'super hot', narrowed her eyes, "Yes, do blame Isabelle, because she looks great, doesn't she look great Jace?" she turned her attention to the boy with golden hair and eyes, he looked over from where he'd been examining everyone else in the room and met Clary's gaze.

"Yes." He said and that one syllable contained so much desire and an affection that hinted at something deeper, Simon felt awkward, as though he'd intruded on a private moment, he was about to turn away when Clary broke the eye contact and saw him.

"Simon!" she exclaimed in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

His heart rose a bit that she was talking to him instead of blondie, "I'm part of the band, glad you could make it."

The blond one, Jace, snorted, "Do you really think we're here to listen to your crappy music, mundie? We wouldn't be here were it not for the-"

He cut off midsentence and glared at Clary, whom, as far as Simon could tell had just kicked his shin under the table, Simon wondered what he'd been about to say, he also thought he'd been called a '_mundie_' it was clearly meant as an insult of some sort but he'd never heard of it before.

"So, in a band Simon, that's pretty cool." Clary continued as though Jace hadn't spoken, but again he interrupted, "Yeah, cool right up until the moment you hear them play."

They were both glaring at each other now but as soon as Clary's gaze slid back to Simon's, Jace's face relaxed, and he was just staring at her, as though she was beautiful or dangerous or both. The other girl, Isabelle watched him for a moment then exchanged knowing smiles with the dark haired boy, who must have been her brother, if not her twin. Jonathan, for his part, looked as though he couldn't decide if he disapproved or simply found the entire situation highly amusing.

Clary smiled up at Simon and for a moment he though he saw the black outline of a tattoo or a burn on her collar bone but then she shifted slightly and it was gone, so quickly that he couldn't be sure it had been there at all.

"Good luck." She sounded sincere and Simon tried to smile back but it felt forced, the entire encounter had left him feeling utterly confused and more than a little put out, as if he could compete with someone like Jace, "Thanks, I'd better go, we're starting soon." He hurried back to his friends.

"Well?" Erik looked up as he approached, "How did it go?"

"Weird." Said Simon truthfully, "I don't think she'd dating any them but I'm pretty sure the blonde one's in love with her."

Erik shrugged, "You should just ask her out, the worst that could happen is she says no."

"I'm pretty sure the worst that could happen is actually Jonathan and _Jace_," he spoke the name like a curse, "teaming up to beat me to a pulp."

"Whatever, help with the instruments we're on in five."

They set everything up and stood on stage ready to start when yet another group of people Simon had never seen before walked in. They were all attractive and young, sporting bright, jewel-coloured eyes that had to be the result of coloured contacts. Their appearance in itself was not nearly as remarkable as Clary's group's reaction to seeing them; Simon doubted anyone else had noticed but when the strangers walked in Clary and her friends stiffened slightly, only for a second. They went back to normal almost immediately and gave no obvious signs that they had even seen the new arrivals, they certainly didn't look at them, but something told Simon that they were what Jace had been referring to when he spoke of their reason for being here.

Erik broke into Simon's reverie as he counted them in and Simon forcefully pushed Clary and every one of her crazy friends from his mind and began to play.

All in all they'd been doing quite well, they were on their last song and the crowd appeared to be enjoying themselves, Simon looked up as the song ended, just in time to see the group with the strange eyes get up and leave through the side door, his eyes flicked to Clary, she watched them leave and after a quick conference with her companions the all got up and followed. Simon wondered what was going on, Erik's words echoed in his ears, '_you should just ask her out'_ he was right, what was the worst that could happen really? Spurred on by his sudden resolve he put down his guitar and set off after her. He pushed his way through the door into the darkness outside, already talking lest he loose his nerve, "Hey Clay I was wondering If you would like to-"

The rest of the sentence died in his throat as his mind finally comprehended the scene in front of him, he felt nauseous and confused as though the world had turned upside down, leaving him to see it in a whole different way. He had the sense in that moment that everything he though he knew had just changed irrevocably.

"Oh my God!"

**Da Da Da-Daaaa! I'm sorry this took so long don't hate me? Anyway did you guys enjoy Christmas? I did, my family are all lunatics but I kind of like them that way! **** Thank you so much for the support! Especially all the reviews! I love you guys! And I will update soon!**

**XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own this series. The Mortal Instruments series and all characters and events relating to it belong to Cassandra Clare.**


	16. Chapter 16

** Sixteen **

Despite Jace's predictions Simon's band actually wasn't that bad, it had been totally weird to see him here though, Simon formed a part of Clary's mundane life, encountering him while out hunting Eidolon demons was surreal.

Speaking of Eidolon demons, Clary couldn't believe how easy it had been to find them. She'd imagined trawling through back alleys hours after everything had closed, instead the entire group of them had walked into the bar and sat down, completely oblivious to the shadowhunters seated on the other side of the room. The band started their last song and the Eidolons got up and walked out the door, it made sense, the music ends, the bar empties out, they catch the stragglers.

Jace waited just long enough for the door to swing shut behind them before he stood, everyone else followed suit and then their group also made its way through the door. As soon as they were outside Clary held her hand out to stop Jace going any further, "We'd better put on glamours, there'll be mundanes walking around outside soon."

He inclined his head, "Fair point."

They must have made some small noise as they did it because they'd barely finished before the Eidolon demons were back, reappearing from whatever dark alley they'd been using to lay in wait. The leader of the group looked like a twenty year-old women and with her dark hair and creamy skin she would have been quite beautiful were it not for the crimson eyes and claw-tipped fingers. When she spoke Clary saw that her teeth were sharpened to points, "What have we here? Some baby Nephilim?" She grinned, "Surely this is past your bedtime? So kind of your adults to sacrifice their children to us!" The demons laughed and the shadowhunters stiffened but no one said anything; until Jace's dagger appeared in the leader's head. She didn't even have time to yell, ichor exploded outward and she folded into nothingness. For a moment shock silenced everyone, then the Eidolons began to scream in rage at the same moment Isabelle yelled, "Jace! A little heads up next time?"

Clary could hear the smile in his voice when he replied, "Just keeping you on your toes Iz!"

After that there was no more time for talking, the Eidolons rushed forward and everyone scrambled for weapons, Clary named her seraph blade and used it to slice the nearest Eidolon's head off, it exploded with ichor and she barely managed to avoid the splash. She was looking for a new opponent when a male voice sounded behind her, shouting her name, some kind of question, it was too loud around her and she was too focused on the fight to make out the exact words, but she did gather that whoever was talking was not one of the fighters, which meant they were from the bar.

Clary turned, standing in the street was Simon, but that wasn't what made her blood run cold. It was the expression on his face; utter horror. That wasn't the kind of expression you wore when you found yourself on and empty street, it was the expression you wore when you stumbled upon a brutal battle between two species you didn't previously realise existed. But they were wearing glamours; Simon shouldn't have been able to see _anything_ but there he was, staring right at Clary. She realised a moment later that she too had been staring dumbfounded at Simon and she began to turn back to the threat at hand, but she was too late. Something pushed her, with super-human strength into the brick wall of the Alto Bar. She hit it with a sickening crack and pain exploded in her chest, previous experience told her that she'd broken at least one rib, probably more.

"Clary!" a male voice called her name, then Jace was crouching in front of her, setting his stele against her skin and drawing an iratze rune. The pain subsided to a dull throb as her bones began to knit themselves together. She gave Jace a small smile to indicate that she was okay and he exhaled in relief, her eyes travelled over his shoulder, all the Eidolon demons had been reduced to puddles.

Using Jace's arm and the wall behind her, Clary stood. Her ribs twinged but not anything too painful which meant the iratze was doing its work. She looked down at herself, there were splashes of ichor on her jacket that she hadn't noticed during the fight, steaming as they slowly ate their way through the leather. Clary sighed in frustration and pulled it off, that was her second jacket in three days that had been destroyed. As she threw it to the ground she caught sight of the glamour rune on her arm, suddenly she remembered why she'd been thrown into the wall. She spun quickly around, Simon was still where she'd last seen him, rooted to the spot with fear, but soon that same fear that held him there now would propel him away, Clary could see it in his eyes. He took one step back then turned and ran but Clary was faster, she reached him long before he made it to the door and with a strength no-one her size should posses yanked him to a stand-still.

"Let go of me!" he yelled but Clary just pushed him against the wall and held him there, everyone crowded around, "What are you-" Jace began but then his eyes slid between Clary and Simon and widened, "He can see us."

Simon struggled again, "Of course I can see you! I'm not blind!"

Jace grinned maliciously at him, "Of course you are, you just don't know it."

Simon writhed violently against Clary's hands, "Get away from me! You people are murderers!"

"No we're not!" replied Clary hotly.

Simon looked at her incredulously, "You just killed a whole bunch of people!"

"They weren't people." Said Jace as though it was glaringly obvious and Simon was being stupid on purpose.

"What were they then?" asked Simon in a tone that indicated he didn't believe a word anyone was saying.

"They were demons."

Simon looked around at them all with new terror, "Oh my God! You people are actually insane!"

"Simon," Clary tried for a gentler tone, "you saw them, they didn't look human, did they? Not really, and look over there," she nodded in the direction of the battle ground, "what happened to their bodies Simon?"

His gaze darted away and then back to Clary, "I'm calling the cops." But he said it with much less conviction this time.

Jace rolled his eyes, "Great plan, you can tell them the invisible people are harassing you."

"You're not invisible!"

A new thought occurred to Clary, "Simon, how long have you been able to see things no-one else can? Is it your entire life?"

"YOU. ARE. NOT. INVISIBLE!" he enunciated each word carefully as though he was afraid they weren't understanding him.

"Answer the question!"

"No!"

That stumped Clary for a moment, "No you won't answer the question? Or no, not your entire life?"

He sighed, "No, not my entire life."

"When did it start?"

"Last week."

Jace turned to Clary, "We need to get him back to the Institute, Hodge will want to see him."

All the calm Simon had acquired went out the window, "I'm not going anywhere with you! Let me go!"

Jace glared at him, "Either you can come willingly mundane or…" he let the sentence hang in the air, the threat was clear.

Simon's jaw dropped, "Are you going to _kidnap_ me?"

Jace opened his mouth to reply but at that moment the door to the bar began to open, "Simon?" a female voice called out.

Clary looked him in the eye, he was about five seconds away from yelling for help, which meant Clary had about five seconds to stop him. She snatched the stele Jace still held from his hand and used it to cancel out her glamour rune, she shoved it back into his hand then reached out, grabbed Simon's shoulders and pulled him in for a kiss, stopping any cry he'd been about to make with her own lips.

It's a strange sensation, kissing someone you're not attracted to, unlike Jace's kisses, which held so much passion they honestly seemed to burn, Simon kisses were mildly pleasant, without the emotions that give the activity its breathless fervour. The door swung open and a tiny girl that could have been anywhere between the ages of twelve and fourteen stepped out, she froze when she saw Simon and Clary making out in what looked to her to be an empty street, "Oh… sorry Simon… I'll umm talk to you later." Her eyes welled with tears and she fled back through the door. As soon as it slammed behind her Clary broke contact and stepped away, she couldn't help it, her eyes moved straight to Jace, for a moment his eyes betrayed hurt and anger then his face smoothed back to its expressionless mask, she looked away.

"What the hell Clary?" Jonathan asked.

Glad for the distraction she glared at Simon, "He was going to yell."

"Don't crush his dreams so quickly Clary, that was probably the first real kiss rat face has ever had." Jace's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Jace…" Clary voice held a silent plea that he be quiet, but of course he wouldn't, "Although you are the same age as him so maybe you're not his type, did you see his girlfriend? She was what? Twelve? I thought mundanes had laws against that stuff."

"Jace!" Alec that time, the warning clear in his voice.

He ploughed ahead anyway, "I really didn't have you pegged as the type to steal people's boyfriends Clary, but I suppose, what more can we expect from someone dressed like that."

The words had barely registered before Jace was gone, thrown up against the wall next to Simon by Jonathan, "Watch your mouth Herondale." he growled, Jace shoved him away, "Whatever."

He began to walk down the street away from them.

"Jace! Where are you going?" Isabelle called after him, her voice tinged with worry and exasperation.

He waved a dismissive hand over his shoulder and replied without turning, "I'm sure you can manage to transport one, scrawny mundane to the Institute without me. I'm bored."

Clary couldn't decide what she wanted to do more, burst into tears over his cruelty, or run after him and give him a kick, but she sensed he would find at great deal of satisfaction in either so instead she pulled out her stele and set about re-drawing her glamour rune, letting him walk away.

Simon gasped, he was staring at her.

"What?" she snapped, suddenly in a terrible mood.

He shook his head, "For a moment when you drew that thing on your arm you disappeared, than I could see you again."

Isabelle smiled but it looked strained, "What did we tell you mundane? Invisible."

Clary grabbed his upper arm, "Let's go."

Simon open his mouth to protest but she cut him off, "You _will_ come with you to see Hodge and I'm going to tell you this once and once only Simon, I'm in a very bad mood, don't try to get away, it won't end well for you."

**Happy 2015! Yeah, that's really all I wanted to say! Keep the reviews rolling in! Love you guys!**

**P.S.** **Can anyone guess what's happened to Simon? **

**XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own this series. The Mortal Instruments series and all characters and events relating to it belong to Cassandra Clare. **


	17. Chapter 17

**Seventeen**

By the time she made it back to the Institute Clary's animosity towards Simon had been mostly expunged. They'd ridden the subway back and on more than one occasion Clary had had to remind him that he was the only one who could see them, and as far as the rest of the passengers were concerned he was a mentally disturbed boy who was maintaining an argument with himself.

When they arrived it was no real surprise to anyone that Jace wasn't back so they proceeded to the library without him.

Hodge was extremely surprised to see them traipse through his door with a mundane, and even more surprised when they began to tell him everything that had happened that night. Halfway through the explanation Jace slipped into the room, unnoticed by everyone except his parabati and Clary who, despite being furious with him couldn't help but be annoyingly attuned to his presence. He didn't look at either of them however and they didn't announce his presence.

Jonathan, who'd taken it upon himself to fill Hodge in, finished the explanation and Hodge latched onto the most important part,

"He only got the sight a week ago? How is that possible?"

Jonathan shrugged, studying Simon, who was standing uncomfortably in front of Hodges desk, "He could have had a block on his mind that's faded."

Hodge looked sceptical, "So he's had the sight his entire life but only just uncovered it?"

Isabelle spoke up, "What does that make him?"

Alec snorted, "Well, he's not a shadowhunter or a downworlder, just look at him!"

Everyone did, Clary felt a surge of sympathy for Simon who was standing, awkward and afraid inside a ring of shadowhunters who were examining him like an inconvenient puzzle with a piece missing. She stepped forward until she was standing beside him and Simon shot her a small grateful smile.

Hodge rubbed his eyes tiredly, "So he's a mundane with the sight, but who bothers to put a block on the mind of a mundane? And if it was placed so early that he has no recollection of anything before it who would know to put it on him in the first place?"

Clary turned to Simon, "What are your parents like?"

Simon looked outraged, "They would never have anything to do with your freaky magic cult if that's what you're getting at!"

"We do not do magic!" hissed Alec.

Hodge smiled genially at Simon, "Perhaps," he said quietly, "It would be best not to insult the _freaky magic cult_ when you're standing in their lair."

Jonathan, ever the epitome of focus said, "What were you getting at Clary?"

She shrugged, "If one of his parents was a shadowhunter or downworlder he could have been born with the sight and if they were trying to hide from that life they wouldn't want Simon able to wander back into it, they could have had his mind blocked when he was a baby."

Isabelle was nodding, "That's actually pretty smart."

Clary rolled her eyes, "Always the tone of surprise."

She turned back to Simon, "What about your sister? Did she ever say or do anything strange?"

He was looking increasingly distressed, "My family knows nothing about this world! They haven't been lying to me my entire life!"

It was clear that no-one believed him, Clary tried on last time, "It's not a choice Simon, we're born into this world."

He looked taken aback, "You have no choice?"

"Well yeah, but even if we did 99% of us would still choose this life."

"Why?"

The question took Clary by surprise, "What do you mean?"

"Even if a safe, happy life was offered to you you'd still chose the one where you're constantly fighting and in danger, lose loved ones constantly and life expectancy is probably mid-twenties?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"It's what we're good at, we were literally born for this."

Simon opened his mouth to reply but Hodge cleared his throat, "You've gone off on a tangent, please Simon tells us about when you discovered your Sight."

"About a week ago I stared seeing weird things, just out of the corner of my eye at first and then when I was looking at things they started flickering and changing until eventually I wasn't seeing the glamours," he looked to Clary for confirmation that he'd gotten the word right, she nodded slightly, "anymore, just people with red skin or fairy wings, I thought I was going insane."

For the first time since he entered the room Jace spoke, "Just because the invisible people are real mundane, doesn't mean you're not mad."

Everyone but Clary and Alec started in surprise and turned to look at where Jace was leaning against the wall next to the door.

Hodge sighed, "I'm glad you finally decided to grace us with your presence, Jace."

Clary didn't bother to point out that Jace had actually been there for quite a while and neither did Jace, in fact, he remained uncharacteristically silent. Clary could feel his eyes burning into the back of her head but she refused to turn and look at him.

Hodge turned his attention back to Simon, "Did anything abnormal happen a week ago?"

"Yes actually, my friend Erik took me to this club, called Pandemonium, I hated it, I was thinking about leaving and then the next thing I remember I was waking up at home in my bed with no idea how I got there, I asked Erik, he said I just disappeared and didn't tell anyone where I was going."

Jace snorted, "That was a special type of magic mundane, we call it alcohol, it has many mystical properties including memory loss and terrible dancing."

Simon glared at him, "I wasn't drinking, I'm under age."

Jace grinned, "So am I." The implication was clear.

Hodge waved his hand dismissively, "This is all very interesting but it pales in comparison to a greater question, 'What do we do now?"

Jace posed the obvious answer, "We hand him over to the Clave, they can deal with him."

Hodge looked uncomfortable, "I'd rather not, they will most likely hand him over to the Silent Brothers which seems unusually cruel for a mundane whose only crime was being able to see, besides, the people of this Institute have enough marks against their name without being the first shadowhunters to be discovered by a mundane in the last century."

And so the debate began, Clary and Jonathan slipped out to send yet another extremely late voicemail to their mother and then joined the discussion which lasted well into the early morning until Clary had an idea, "I know a guy."

Everyone stopped talking, over the course of the night people's stances hadn't changed much, Alec and Jace wanted to hand Simon over to the Clave, Jace had also suggested just letting him go and hadn't seemed particularly concerned when Hodge pointed out that demons would probably eat him when they realised he could see them. Clary, Jonathan, Hodge and Isabelle were debating alternative solutions though Clary suspected Isabelle was more concerned with defying the Clave than Simon's safety. And Simon was standing in the middle of it all looking increasingly pale as the night wore on.

"I know a warlock who could probably put the block back on Simon's mind," Jonathan's confused expression cleared, he knew who she was talking about, "so we won't have to wipe his memory or kill him." She glared at Jace who'd suggested that a few minutes ago, he shrugged like the outcome was a little disappointing.

Hodge looked interested, "Who?"

Clary shrugged, "Magnus Bane, he's the high warlock of Brooklyn."

Everyone looked impressed, "You know the high warlock of Brooklyn?" Isabelle sounded incredulous, "Than call him!"

Clary took out her phone and dialled the number, Magnus picked up after the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi Magnus it's Clary."

"I know, I'm Magnus the Magnificent, I know everything."

She snorted, "You mean you have caller ID."

"That too. Anyway, is this a social call or a 'Magnus I'd lost without you and your fantastic magical abilities call?"

"The second one. Can you block a mundane's mind from the sight?"

He was silent for a moment and then, "I can do something similar. Tell you what, I'm throwing a party you can bring your problem along and I'll have a look."

He gave Clary the details then hung up, everyone was staring at her so she shrugged, "He's throwing a party tonight, he said we should bring Simon along and he'll see what he can do."

At the prospect of a party Isabelle clapped her hands in excitement, rushed forward grabbed Clary and began leading her to the door.

"What are you doing Isabelle?"

"We're going to the party of the high warlock of Brooklyn, you need to go shopping."

"The high warlock of Brooklyn has known me since I was two and his party is for Chairman Meow!" protested Clary, trying in vain to pull herself free.

Jonathan rolled his eyes but everyone else looked confused so she elaborated, "His cat!"

For a moment Isabelle looked taken aback then she shrugged, "Who cares? It's a party and you don't own a dress!"

"I was going to sleep!"

"You can sleep anytime, this is important!"

Clary looked around the room for an ally, but everyone was too amused to help her. She locked eyes with Jace as she was tugged unceremoniously toward the door; he stared back at her, expressionless as ever. Isabelle pulled again, "Come on Clary, I have to perform a miracle!"

Jace frowned slightly and for a second Clary though he was still angry with her, she felt her blood boiling at the thought, the only person who had the right to be angry was her! He'd practically called her a prostitute for God's sake! She'd already sworn not to forgive him. But the she realised he was frowning at Isabelle and as the library door closed behind them she heard him say, "She doesn't need one."

_Okay, so maybe he wasn't entirely unforgivable. _

**I know, I suck. This has taken forever! I've just had so much on and really bad writer's block which is stupid because it's not even a hard chapter! Anyway, If you haven't given up on me I will love you for ever! And If you have than I say again, I know, I suck.**

**XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own this series. The Mortal Instruments series and all characters and events relating to it belong to Cassandra Clare.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Eighteen**

By the time she got back to the Institute Clary was exhausted. In an attempt to shorten the torture she'd agreed to the first dress Isabelle had picked out, an entirely wasted effort because she'd immediately been dragged off to look for matching shoes. And now she was laden down by shopping and dreading the moment when she would have to wear the heels that were going to murder her feet and the dress with the split up the side that made her blush just thinking about. Isabelle, on other hand, appeared to be utterly rejuvenated by the shopping and the prospect of a party, in fact, the sleepless night didn't appear to have affected her at all, her make-up was still perfect and her clothes unrumpled, it was annoying to say the least.

Clary was looking forward to nothing more than collapsing on her bed and taking advantage of a few hours of much needed sleep, but when she stepped into her room there was already someone there.

"What the hell Jace?"

He was sprawled across her bed, casually flipping through the sketchbook that not even Jonathan was allowed to touch. He didn't look up.

"You're a very good artist you know, sometimes even a great one, I'm a little disappointed that there aren't any romanticised sketches of me but otherwise it's quite impressive."

"You're not supposed to look at that." But her voice lacked conviction, despite being angry with him she just couldn't seem to muster up the same level of violation that usually came with people looking through what was essentially her pictographic diary. "I'm really tired, can you just go?"

He closed the sketch book and put it down, but made no move to get off the bed. After a moment of deliberation Clary kicked off her shoes, dropped her shopping bags and flopped down next to him, turning her back resolutely away, there was no way Jace was going to make her sleep on the floor.

"Clary look at me please."

There was something in his voice that made her roll over despite her best intentions, Jace was lying on his side staring at her.

"I'm sorry." Straightforward, direct, undeniably honest. For a moment Clary was thrown, Jace didn't seem like the apologetic type.

"It's okay, you didn't know you weren't supposed to look at it so I suppose you can be forgiven."

He shook his head, "Not about that, I'm sorry for the way I acted last night."

"How did you act?"

He gave her a wry look, "You're really going to drag this out aren't you?" He sighed, "I was very rude."

"Why?" She urged.

He met her gaze, his hair was rumpled from the bed, his expression open, he actually looked his age, like he was a normal boy instead of an expert warrior, "Jealous. I was jealous, you were kissing him and I've only known you a few days but it wasn't right, only I was supposed to kiss you. I've never been so angry in all my life and I just wanted to make you hurt and you've ruined me Clary because had you been anyone else I couldn't have cared less." He said all this very fast, like he was unburdening himself a terrible secret as opposed to letting someone know he cared.

"On our _shopping trip_ Isabelle told me that was hoe you would feel," Clary's words were beginning to slur with exhaustion and she could feel herself losing consciousness even as she spoke, "but she also said I should never expect you to say it."

He looked away, "I don't normally, well ever for that matter but you turn everything on its head."

"Maybe that's not such a bad thing." She whispered gently, she could feel herself falling asleep but she saw Jace's eyes flick between her and the shopping bags on the floor.

"I'm looking forward to seeing your dress." Clary tried to answer but all of a sudden her eyelids were too heavy to hold open.

The door slammed open with a loud bang, Clary sat up, half asleep and disorientated. It took her a moment to remember why she was wearing jeans and sleeping on top of the covers, as soon as she did she looked over at where Jace had been lying, he was gone of course but the sheets were rumpled where he'd been. Evidence that she hadn't been dreaming.

A noise of impatience came from the doorway, Isabelle was standing there, surveying Clary critically. Then her eyes landed on the shopping bags, she gasped.

"Clary tell me you didn't just leave your dress lying in the bag to get creased!" She stalked across the room and picked up the bags, "Come on, we need to get ready and it's going to take me half an hour at the least to fix your hair."

**Hi, guys! I'm back at school and I'm in grade 12 this year so to help me keep on top of my homework I will only be updating once a week from now on, every weekend. Sorry. Also, Sorry for how short this chapter is, a bigger one next time I promise! Anyway thank-you to everyone who reads my story! I love you guys!**

**XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own this series. The Mortal Instruments series and all characters and events relating to it belong to Cassandra Clare.**


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